ward’s natural science bulletin. b 
BEFORE THE CABINET. 
See now these crystals; This is celestine— 
This, amethyst ,— and this, yes, cinnabar: 
You note the perfect shape, no flaw to mar 
The shear cut sides, the ever glistening- sheen 
Of point and facet! Look, where have you seen 
Woi'k done more deftly? While each crystal star 
Hath its own form, deep in this Icelanclspar 
Lurk hidden rainbows,— azure, gold and green! 
You saw them not ere now, yet now you see 
Their irridescence! Ay, how came they there? 
And who, who formed the crystals! Nay, forbear, 
Ask not! Perchance, methinks, the powers that be, 
The immanent laws, the innate forces, share 
A birthright ancient as eternity. 
GEMS AND ORNAMENTAL STONES. 
Although we do not make a point in dealing in 
cut stones, still we have added largely in this de- 
partment to our stock in the past year, especially 
among those varieties in which a cut specimen 
should accompany the mineral in its natural con- 
dition in a choice mineral cabinet. 
Below you will find a partial list of those on 
hand, giving their length in millemeters with 
price: 
Diamond, Brazil.. 
4 mills, 
O 
o 
o 
CQ 
m 
ii it 
2 
i i 
8 00 
Ruby 
.... 4 
i t 
4 00 
( i 
3 
( t 
5 00 
i t 
5 
a 
6 00 
f t 
3 
1 1 
1 75 
t t 
.... 3 
1 1 
2 00 
l i 
8 
1 1 
3 25 
t t 
5 
1 1 
1 25 
Sapphire, India 
7 
1 1 
10 00 
ii it 
3 
i t 
12 00 
it l i 
6 
t i 
14 00 
“ light “ 
3 
1 1 
5 00 
it a 
7 
i i 
15 00 
si a 
10 
1 1 
18 00 
Chysoberyl, 
9 
t i 
18 00 
< ( 
9 
1 1 
13 00 
i i 
5 
1 1 
8 00 
Ci , 
5 
t i 
7 00 
< t 
4 
it 
6 00 
“ opalescent, 
8 
1 1 
6 00 
Triphane(Spodumene,) 
6 
1 1 
15 90 
Hiddenite, (Spodumene,). 
6 
i i 
25 00 
Emerald 
3 
< t 
20 00 
. f 
.... 6 
ti 
6 00 
Aquamarine, Brazil . 
14 
i l 
7 00 
it it 
12 
ti 
5 00 
“ N. II 
.... 5 
i t 
3 50 
Euclase, Brazil 
4 
1 1 
5 00 
Chrysolite (Peridote) 
6 
1 1 
3 50 
Epidote, Tyrol 
12 
i t 
2 50 
Moldavite (Bottlestein). . . . 
13 
1 1 
6 00 
a a 
15 
i i 
8 00 
Topaz, white, Pike’s Peak, 
Col., 15 
i i. 
25 00 
ti it it it 
“ 8 
. C i 
8 00 
“ “ Brazil 
12 
1 1 
18 00 
“ yellow 1 ■ 
13 
i t 
16 00 
it it ti 
16 
i i 
4 00 
tt t . a 
10 
1 1 
3 00 
a a a 
10 
1 1 
2 50 
a n n 
7 
t i 
2 00 
“ Saxony 
7 
i i 
1 75 
“ deep pink 
.... 8 
( i 
12 00 
“ light “ (pendant). 
15 
i i 
3 75 
Tourmaline (blue) Brazil. . 
10 
1 1 
8 00 
“ (bluish green). 
9 
t i 
9 00 
(yellowish green) .. 9 
i i 
12 00 
Spinel (Balas Ruby) Ceylon 9 
<< 
10 00 
Zircon.. 
. 4 to 5 
1 1 
1 00 
Almandine. 
8 
a 
5 00 
1 1 
11 
i t 
3 00 
Carbuncle.. 
13 
1 1 
75 
t t 
5 
a 
25 
Amethyst . . 
16 
1 1 
3 00 
.< i 
18 
i . 
3 50 
Amethyst (slightly flawed) 
9 to 14 
1 1 
1 00 
a a a 
8 to 15 
t i 
75 
a it a 
9 to 12 
_< t 
50 
it ct ll 
6 to 9 
a 
35 
Citrine 
18 
i t 
14 00 
f t 
20 
1 1 
4 00 
i i 
15 
1 1 
3 50 
Roclc Crystal . _ 
15 
1 1 
6 00 
it it 
9 
i i 
4 00 
ti it 
7 
1 1 
1 25 
“ “ (pendants) 
40 
i i 
1 00 
tt a 
- - 
25 
i t 
3 50 
ated, because not projected by volition nor 
wrought by art — nay, they were but the accu- 
mulative achievement of time : that is to say, time 
and patient neglect. And as the prosperous years 
rolled on his sandals waxed, and gathered grace 
and style, and also magnitude and majesty; inso- 
much that the footprint of him was like the foot- 
print of a hogshead which is up-ended in the 
snow. And he became a legislator and also a 
speaker. But there was jealousy because of the 
splendor of his attainments in the field; there was 
rancor because of the sublimity of his sandals. 
And besides, there was not room; for the alkali 
flat was circumscribed in area, and he unjustly 
occupied space proper and sufficient for the rep- 
resentation of several counties; also he trod upon 
the feet of distant members. Those near at hand 
could see the danger, and avoid it; but those who 
were further removed, having no warning, his 
step being noiseless, like that of the stealthy and 
cushioned cat, suffered. Yet his intentions were 
pure, he did these things inadvertently — usually 
while absorbed in thought concerning the nation- 
al debt. 
So charges were brought against him and he was 
indicted and condemned as an obstructionist. The 
verdict was confirmed by the appellate courts in 
succession, by Congress also, and finally by the 
United States Supreme Court, sitting in bank, or 
chambers, or somewhere, and this latter con- 
demned him to cut his sandals down to eight 
inches broad and eighteen inches long, with 
costs; and thus it was with these reduced powers, 
these diminished capacities, that he made the 
now world-renowned Footprints for the Prime- 
val Man. 
Such is history; and thus is the Primeval Man 
vindicated, struck from the roster, and dismissed 
from further service in this conflict. I now pro- 
ceed to dispose of the rest of these myths. If I 
were gone, and the treasury of history with me, 
they yet could not stand; for even the scientific 
theory that gave them being would be also their 
destruction. Because it locates them back in the 
Old Red Sandstone Period. The Irish are a com- 
paratively recent formation. They belong to the 
Old Blue Grindstone Tertiary, and are there con- 
fined to the stratified rocks of the post-pliocene 
alluvium and upper pentamerous limestone. 
The assertion of Hugh Miller and other early ob- 
servers, that traces of them are discoverable in 
Jurassic deposits of the Carboniferous Chalks, 
between the median layer of old basaltiG gneiss 
and the marsupial crinoids of the Paleozoic Con- 
glomerate, was regarded with suspicion at the 
time, and is now known to have been wholly 
bituminous. How then, we come to the point. 
If these Footprints belong to the Old Red Sand- 
stone Period, what becomes of your Irish Elk? 
What was he doing there when there wern’t any 
Irish yet? Answer me that. Crack me that nut, 
Messieurs Marsh and Harkness — and pray let us 
have no scientific folderol about it. Let us have 
a square deal just this once, The case is sim- 
ple; I see your geological blunder, and go you a 
geological fact better — now you call me, if you 
can. Then we’ll draw three apiece and double 
the pot. I think nobody can offer fairer than 
that. 
And so I have disposed of the Irish Elk — as I 
look at it. Now we come to the Cave Bear. 
What is his period He belongs among the tal- 
cose hornblender of the Post-Tertiary of the De- 
vonian, along with the thecodont saurians, cryp- 
togamous batrachians, and other gold bearing 
rocks of the Azoic age; and there isn’t a trace of 
him to be found anywhere else for money. Then 
what is he doing out there among the Red Sand- 
stone schist? Why, honored sirs, when he died 
out of the world for good and all, there wasn’t 
enough old Red Sandstone in it to make a whet- 
stone out of. It had’t begun to deposit yet. 
And another thing, the Cave Bear couldn’t 
have lived in Nevada, anyway, for there isn’t a 
a cave in it, from one end of it to the other — ex- 
cept the comparatively recent ones in the mines, 
and perhaps here and there in the mining stocks. 
Too recent to do him any good, or hardly any- 
body else. 
This disposes of the Cave Bear, as I look at it. 
Now the same arguments that dispose of the 
Irish Elk and the Cave Bear, dispose also of the 
Old Silurian Ass; for they trained together. 
Opal, Hungary 
. 8 mills, 
$10 00 
t i ' ti 
35 
i l 
6 00 
tt ti 
. 9 
i O 
4 00 
t i 1 1 
. 7 
t i 
3 25 
ti ti 
. 9 
i t 
2 75 
it i i 
. 5 
l i 
1 50 
Fire Opal, Mexico . ... 
. 8 
t : 
1 75 
Moonstone, Ceylon 
10 
i ( 
4 50 
“ “ 3 to 7 
1 1 
$1-1 50 
a it 
.10 
i t 
1 25 
“ Ya 
.20 
i i 
2 00 
it i < 
.25 
i < 
1 50 
Moss Agate, India. 
.15 
t i 
1 00 
“ “ Col 23- 
-28 
“$ 
75-1 00 
Turquois, Asia.. 
.10 
a 
2 50 
“ Mexico . ... 
.12 
1 1 
2 50 
a n 
. 9 
i t 
1 25 
Labradorite .. 
.15 
i i 
1 00 
1 i 
10 
i i 
75 
Lapis lazuli. . ., ... . 
.25 
tt 
60 
Carnelian Entaglio 
.17 
i t 
2 00 
Crocidolite “ 
17 
1 1 
2 00 
1 ‘ yellow (Tiger Eye) . . 
.21 
i t 
1 50 
“ green “ “10- 
-15 
“$1 50-1 75 
ti a a t i 
.23 
C f 
2 75 
Amazon stone, Russia. .. . . 
.25 
i t 
2 50 
it it 
.28 
t i 
3 00 
Williamsite 
.30 
i i 
1 75 
Rutile in Quartz. .13- 
•22 
“$2 50-4 00 
Amber ring and string of beads 
24 centimeters long 
» 
7 00 
CASTS OF GOLD NUGGETS. 
Copies of the celebrated 
gold nuggets found in Aus- 
tralia, Siberia and Califor- 
nia. These casts are gold 
plated so as to exactly 
represent the originals from which they were 
taken. The “ Welcome Nugget,” the largest of 
the series, contained $41,882.70 worth of gold, 
and the total value represented by the whole 
series — 24 in number — is $205,986. 
Price of set, packed,.. $125.00 
METEORITES. 
Although our steam saw is kept pretty busy 
cutting Meteorites for oume>ves, or for our cus- 
tomers, the demand for these i;ue visitors is so 
great, that we can offer our clients al. the present 
time only the following : 
Augusta Co., Ya. 
Of this iron we still have one grand slice 9x5 
inches, showing a nodule of Troilite 2| inches 
diameter. This is a complete section, one side 
is beautifully etched, while the other is polished. 
Price, $100.00. 
Another 4| x 21 inches semicircular in 
form 18.00. 
- One 2f x 1^ inches, 11.00. 
Another, l| x 1£ inches 6.00. 
“ 2f x f “ 7.00. 
“ U x If “ 6.50. 
“ 2*xl* “ 7.50. 
All of the above show a polished and etched 
surface, and most of them a portion of the out- 
side crust. 
In addition to the above, all of which are a 
part of our large mass found in 1858-1859, we 
have a fine piece 4 x 2| inches, and from i to 1 
inch in thickness. One side is polished and 
etched, and the other is outside crust. This 
piece, although undoubtedly from the same fall 
is from a mass weighing 36 lbs. found a few 
years earlier. Price, $35.00. 
Colialiuila, Mexico. 
a. The largest and finest specimen we have of 
this iron is one-half of a dome shaped mass 4| 
inches high, 5J inches broad, and 2^ inches 
