, 1860-06-22
Excursion Of the Chicago ACADEMY Of
HCfence.

tCoEEetrortcnce or the lEezs and Tribune i
CHICAGO. Thursday Morning, June ~ $780,
The Chicago Academy Of Science and their
guests, in all some seventy Indies and gentle
men, have just returned from q very agreeable
mud instructive excursion TO Southern Illinois.
:ot the party, without the fo1mali.y Of mentions
ing names. 1t is enough to say, TINT being COM
poscd Of our leading scientific men with their
lad'es' they showed themselves we'll verted also
in the art Of mixing themselves very agreeable
to each other. We left by the morning train
Of the Illinois Central Railroad al $50 and ar
;slsfd at Golden, 1898 miles south Of Chicago,
soo1 alter o'clotk.~ All along the -l,ue Of the
road The country looks splendidly. and the
crops never gave promise Of more abundant
y5elst. was interesting to observe the in
cFens'ng s'1e OF the corn Us NC went southwark.
Some We saw in .asse!. near the end Of our
journey. Immediately south of Eflingham We
=saw the wheat harvested, aud soutI, Of that
1eAp:rs were frequently seen gathering the
golden grain" With good weather, the wheat
will NIL be harvested in week or ten daye,
south Of the Ohio and Mississippi road All
ngrf &c tha: the yield is large and the quality ex-
ceiicnL ' -.
% arrsring at. Cobden, the ladies' snd some
Of tl.e gentlemen *ere assigned quarters among
the,ciuzens. Some Of the bachelors found lodg~
.ingt in the excellent sleeping cars in which We
game do~a; and will. this arrangement they
wcrf the moro pleased. .s It gerc them an op-
portnnity to join in the dance. whict, had been
specially ztrmged for .ha. evening: Several
I NJ fra fhiroon ri.
tiyis'es, and altogether it was rery pleasant
affair.". )? :. ::''
.. Oh Wednesday morning the citizens Assem-.
| b!cd ut the depot wilh their teamr, and all were
soO4 On board for q ride Of four miles west, to
the residence of George Walker, Esq. Here
the citizens had prepared to entertsiu the
Academy aud their guests with true Western
hospitality. :Bnt the very interesting geoiosi-
cal developments in the vicinity were first to
be examined. 4 few rods FROM, Mr. Walkers,
fnciag south and west, are perpendicular walla
tof Sandstone Of from sixty to seventy feet high.
The road rises nearly all the, way from the
depot, Mr. Walkers house being SONS four
hundred feet above The railway truck at Cob
den, and se5en hundred feet above the Mis-.
l ~t"F tf+ AeF%As A*oA4 AA49 QQI2k Nc EQul<l
real izc what We had often heard, that South
esn Illinois is very broken, billy country.
1t soeu1ed ss II Ptoridtnes bad scattered the
bills about us in endless pEofusion, and yet the
gently rounded forms they presented we're real.
lv enchanting. Our viev, extended far o1es
into Missouri. We should suppose the bluffs o1
Kentucky were also visible. After enjoying the
beautiful scene; We addressed ourselves to e1.
snaiping the vail Of sand stone before us. The
deep csvernous fissures made The head diz1y,
while others leas precipitols formed pathway
to the base of the bluf. Herr, At length all were
assembled, and severe shower made them glad
to lake refuge beneath the overhanging rocks
For nearly an hour wit and songs, grave and
gay, and joyo kept everybody in the best o.
hulnor. Az the storm abased, Hesler brought
out bis "instruments," and "took" several o.
the groups, with The trees and rocks by which
/! they were surrounded, copies Of which We haye
| no doubt will be long retained as souveniers BY
| the party. This over, all assembled before The
! speakers stand to hear tbs fecture on the geol
ogy Of the district, BY Prof Acchesney. Eeve1
did gcologist occupy more magnificent plat
form. Immediately beneath his feet, and
| in the wall Of sandstone behind him were
the remains Of an immense primeral forest, the
fereshadowings Of that wonderful era in The
history Of cur planet which stored away the
coal measures, In order TO enable man in after
ages to reach tho highsst possible limit Of physi
cal and social development. 4 largetr4s in the
wall Of rock behind the speaker WAS distinctly
Visible to the ertire eudisarei md :wszuasd u
IN illustration of his theme.
Ths lecturer had map Of ! section Of the
country between Thebes on ths Hiastssippi and
tho point where we were standing, made By
| hinaelf. BY which he xas enab1sd to mako tha