New-York tribune., 1871-08-24
SCIENCE.
TFRRE HAUTE AND BACK.

,oCoMoTIvE-PRoF. MORSE ON THE MARINE
SHELLS OF THE WEST.
MINNEAPOLIS. Aug. 1S.-The Science Asso-
ciationo cut long little short-arrvcd here this after
ro,n having returned from Terre Haute. The citizens
o that paca city Of 10000 inhabitants, many OF them
descendants of the old Huguenot families who settled
il and gave 1t its name-provided reception Tor the
Association with which nothing hitherto done by any
CITY can compare Not only was everything that man
ordinarily in want Of provided 10 the members ot the
Association free Of cost hut citizen that owned
horse and wagon placed them at the service OF the nom
hers and drove around to the various objects oi interest
an the city and vicinity. On the evening OF ARRIVAL
,ooetipc was held in the Academy Of Music, large
hdng whose design interior decorations. and acoustic
qualifications Justify designation; IL would deserve
praise in any city Col. II. W. Thompson, lawyer OF
Terre Haute celebrated for his powers as an orator.
delivered an address OF welcome, which apnToacheu
nearer 70 absolute eloquence than anything which mas
hen hoard since the Association met In the speeches OF
rny nv Profs GRAY Hunt and Barker perhaps the point
which ELECTED greatest interest the mention by Prot
II serry Hunt of the fact that the BLOCK coal was es
pecaly and peculiarly adapted for the manuacture OF
Ressemer steel The days OF iron rails, he salu are
rapdly passing away and the time is coming when they
will he as antiquated as copper hatchet OF a hlht
arrow head His familiarity with the details OF the
RosserDer process enabled him to speak with certainty
"a IN the suitability of block coal for this manufacture
and he hoped soon 10 find steel replacing iron through
ont the country Prof. Barker made facetous point
complimentary 10 the people of Terre Haute on the
absence OF sulphur in their minerals. Prof B water
house Hawkins delivered his weknown lecture on the
dragons OF geoogy-the pterodactyls-the chief merit
Of which was, usual in the brilliant blackboard
Illustrations which were vocerousy appauded 1t was
Thought however that the proportion OF perosaurans
or flying lizards to the rest of the lecture was not as
large as might have been expected There was a per-
peual ondeavOr from first to last throughout the lecture
to make points against the Darwinan theory of develop
ment, and this endeavor simply interfered with the
exposition Of the facts which were strictly "lthh Tue
province OF the lecture.
Prof Hunt made mention of the object which now
most promptly greets the OfactOres Of visitor 10 TerTe
Haute within few weeks that city has reoiced IN the
possession of an o-we, and the from penetrated
the whole town during the night that the Association
slept there. A hotel boring, 1t is said by
some for water by Others for OIL in open lot in the
vicinity of the Terre Haue House. At all events, he
struck oil at depth Of 635 feet. At this point the
stories vary OF them being that he bored further
depth S26 feet in ALL and struck a sulphur water which
was good for anything else but to supply drinking water
for that 1t simply uncomfortable. So he came back to
his oil first, however, trying place down the river
bank where he struck suphuretted hydrogen gas This
remains as natural curiosity and is operated by small
boys who charge considerable fee for settng on fire
and extngushing 1.-THE latter part Of the business
being of course the most a1duous The fame
or five feet high, 1t is generally supposed
by unscentifc visitors that this gas might
be used by the city for Illuminating purposes but IL IT be
as Prof Wander Weyde declares, the suphuretted-no
carburetted hydrogenis for such purpose out or
the question It's smell justhes the belief OF the Pro
fessor hotel proprietor returned to his OIL making
sulphur bathing establishment Of his first well, and
boring what was his third in the same open lot
And at 6S5 feet he again struck the OIL and this time
shout fortnight ago, began to pump it, He has met OF
course the usual luck Of such enterprises. His pump
breaks every few hours something wrong. The
best that done is spell OF Ia hours steady
work. in which about barrels raised. New ma
ehnery expected to pump 40 barrels per day Such as
there U.s. hard at work to-day, seemingly with good
sucosss but nobody could give than at the
amount which probably at the rate of more than 1C
and less than 20 barrels Prof Hunt says that the oil
bearing limestone which gives this flow is that Of Chic
ago and the shores of Lake Ontario, just beneath The
Devonian system and the Genessee States The oil n
identical with that Of Pennsylvania.
FERTILIZATION OF FLOWERS.
This morning Prof Asa Gray of Cambridge, the Presi
dent Of the Association, than whom there is
inent botanst tins country it, indeed, anywhere, de
Evered an address at the Academy of Music Terra
Haute TO more considerable audience than is usually
attracted by scientific matinee. Abiding TO the
simple and common flowers, water-cOlOr drawings OF
which were hung up TO Illustrate the lecture, Prof Gray
remarked that the true meaning Of these howers Wch
omy of nature though partly OWNED century ago. but
afterward unappYecated and forgotten, has but lately
been made and appreciated at its great value This
recent acquisition to knowledge, greater in its inhu
enoe Ton natural history than any since the
time OF Linnaus, we owe TO Mr. Darwin.
That insects assisted in fertizing flowers has
long been recognized But most flowers appeared to
be independent of their aid being hermaphrodite their
psts or seedbearing organs, being surrounded by
merous samens each anther bearing myriad grains Of
pollen. any Of which, if it drops on the stigma, may
suffice TO fertilize a seed
Nature might have provided against deficient
fertility n,by hermaphrodite blossoms being the
plentiful ~ by the stamens being much numerous
than the pistls and the pollen being supeTabundant ~
because many in the fuchsia-the stigmas
project beyond the anthers; W because the anhers
usually up with placed In close proximity to the
pistil. But closer examination We find something
anomalous In the Of the arethusa the pollen col
lected in the anther the stigma il on shelf
but only the side Of this shelf Is real stigma-has
sticky surface 10 which pollen can adhere The ariso
oeha Of antbers grown fast TO the back instead
OF the front OF each stigma and ncOsed in the cayx
that even the wind shake the pollen around to
the part of the stigma available for fertilization In the
iris the anther and stigma stand apparently Ike low
ing couple Iside by side closer inspection however
they are in anything but loving positions they are
permanently fastened back to back. In the Ralmia-
the common wild aurethe 10 staIuens carried by
the expanding corola away from the plstl and held
back from it till the flower withers. If any naturalist
had had the arrangement of these organs in flowers,
until within very years, how differently he would
have nXed them!
II is easy enough TO say that these flowers to he
fer,ilzed by insects; but why should such an
elaborate device be necessary Does Nature SO
sselcssly exempHy how not TO do it, preparing honey,
and perfume and lively cOlors in the flower TO attract
the insect and preparing the insect with brsty head
or legs or body to catch then pole for distribution TO
the stgmas If all that necessary to change
position OF the stgma anthers and presto, 1t
Is all Accomplished Nature works with what an