The Kenosha telegraph and tribune. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1859-1860, 1859-08-25
Correspondence of the Ken0sha
telegraph.


College, by the members of the Association
and as many of your readers have never been
At Amherst, will take this occasion to give q
description of some of the curiosities to be
seen there Around the observatory are severa'
stones illustrating the phenomena of drift strata
also, pot-hoes with the rounded pebbles lying
IN them like an egg in nest, as if some gigan-
TIC duck of the primitive period had laid
an egg and time had turned it to stone, or as if
monster ostrich had dropped it upon the sand
and the sun had baked it solid. There are blocks
| of green stone, with veins of white and green
running through and around them, crimped and
crinkled, as if one of Natures journeymen had
put them into the press of Time the wrong way.
| There is also an immense boulder, from Pelham
hills; in the vestibule of the observatory are the
fossil casts of trees which stood upon the banks
OF the Connecticut ages ago. There are also
slabs of serpentne and marble from Vermont.
Entering the Cabinet proper are 500 specimens
| of the rocks of Europe with their characteristic
fossils 600 of the rocks of Europe, 1900 from
Asia-from Palestine, Syria, Armenia, Persia
and India, mainly contributed by graduates of
way in foreign lands, remember their lima mater
with fhal regard; 225 specimens from the West
Indias 1000 from the United States in general
1850 from Massachusetts; $40 from Connecticut
1900 from Vermont; ia organic remains from
the Tertiary strata OF Paris 172 of the marbles Of
Europe polished; 500 organic remains from the
entire series of formations in continental Europe
and 100 specimens of fossils from the Psrmian
formation. These are all ticketed and arranged
! but there many things lately received
which are not in a proper state to be seen at the
best advantag--plaster casts of the monsters of
the earth, which, long ages before the advent Of
man, ceased to exist-fossils of the coal forma-
ton of Siberia, from he Connecticut valley,
New Jersey, Kansas, the Rocky Mountains,
Missouri, from the west coast of Africa from t he
Nile, from Virginia. from Mesopotamia-in all
nearly 300 specimens. In addition there is a
large collection of Indian relics.
Attached to the Woods Cabinet is the Nine
vah gallery, containing the eagle-headed, the FL
leted and the horned divinities, with the sacred
tree. arranged just as they were four thousand
| years ago in the palace of Sardanapalus, when
the great city was in its glory. There are bricks
from Babylon. from Alexandria from Hercula-
neum, from the porcelain tower of China-ihe
| Babylon bricks, stamped with cuneiform letters,
the Oldest printing in the world-a gallery ofthe
pasta gallery of dead nations. If history is
philosophy, teaching by example, then the be-
holder may learn, as he stands in that octagonal
tower, one sad and solemn truth, that so fades
all the glory of the world. 1t is place where
the historian, the of science, the theologian,
may read great lessons. Those divinities are
mute, but still they have story which he who
listens may hear. They will lead him all over
the fields of the past and unfold to him the re-
cords of human history, They will walk with
him through marble palace halls he will behold
the thrones of kings he will sit at feasts of VIC
tory conquered nations will pass before him
priests will stand at sacrifcial affairs and out
from the dimness of time, up from mounds, from
sepulchres will arise dead forms to teach their
simple lesson that truth alone is eternal.
| The Appleton Cabinet is in the building cree
| ted from the Appleton Fund The chronological
! Cabinet is in the room of the lower floor, 100 #
long and 80 # wide. 1t is filled with fossil foot
marks on slabs from one inch to thirty feet long,
covered with bird tracks, which vary in length
from one-twentieth of an inch to twenty inches.
1t is the most wonderful room in the world
Men who are accustomed to exercise vast reach
of thought, gazed upon these records of the
strange races of birds which have passed away.
When did they exist? What was the condition
of the earth then1 And then, thought leapipg
from the past to tine present, and on to the flu
ture, propounded this one question: To what
end 2 But as often as asked, it returned un-
answered. More wonderful these than relics
relating to human history; these are the records
of men these are God's records. Science stood
there reading them-and learning this word
alone: Progress
| In the room over this is the Geological Cab
met, containing 1000 specimens of dried plants;
also, woods, seeds and fruits from all parts of
the world, amounting to nearly 1000 varieties
also, 5000 specimens of vertebrated animals
insects, bugs, beetles, butterflies beautifully
and brilliantly dyed, spitted on pins, lab lied
and put up in boxes and jars-things creeping,
crawling, winding, wrigglng hopping, swapping
life, whatever that may have been, but which
now, though dead. are Observation-Disclosures
of science. There are also 5000 species of shells
limestone houses which crabs, CLAIMS and oys-
tiers secreted from the sea- little by iitle to build
houses upon their own backs, being always at
home; they had passed away, but there were
their movable palaces, more gorgeous than the
Gya n
tiers at Rome. The Shepard Cabinet, the rarest
OF all, occupies the upper room of the octag onal
building. The apartment is 40 feet in diameter,
fire proof lighted from the roof, and contains
gallery. 1t is impossible to give any intelligent
description of tit must be seen. 1t is said by
well informed persons that there are but one or
two collections of minerals in the world superior.
! One particular feature is the collection of me-
teors; which has been in the process of forma-
since 1928, and contains 124 stones which have
fallen from the sky. The Royal cabinet at vi
emma Is the only larger collection in the world
that contains l39 stones, Around these the
tronomers Of the Association fingered with de-
/ light,examine with closest scrutiny these strange
visitants from the upper regions. Some of them
are quite large. One fell in 1892 at Ensisheim
in France, on the 7th of November, when Co.
lumbus was exploring the new Indies. 1t was
purchased from the collection of the late Sir
Francis Chantrey. The various cabinets of
Amherst, whole, are an honor to Massa-
chusetts and to America. Especially are they
honorable to the college. 1t is speciality
which will give it in future a high position.
Tor &c cd fha
way to that beautiful spot--to the hospltabie
halls of the institution-to study, in that quiet
retreat, these unsurpassed collections. The