New-York tribune., 1872-08-28
SCIENCE.
THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION.

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION.
| ooNsrourNoRs OF GOING WEST OF THE MIssIs-
sfPPl-A FAMILY DISPUTE OF THE CRUsTA-
CFAN oRDER-FEMALEs NATURES BEST EF-
FORT-INDIAN CURIosITIEs-H0w COAL is
FORMED-FIDDLING AT BRIDGE TO BREAK
1T DOWN.
| lFROM THB SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THB TRBUNRl
DUBUQUE, Aug. est is becoming manifest
that this meeting is too far away from the homes OF
members. The chairman of Section announced to-day
that the number Of papers 70 be read before IL was
smaller than had the in many years. and that
there good prospect OF getting through that pra
Of its business. To those who know something Oh sno
pressure from the long-wnded geologists unuer
which Section b has annually sufiered-ior 'no
Association is by great preponderance given 10
the study OF rocks--and who recall how mercnesSy
the aspirants for the honors OF the fosuum "oio
snubbed and abbreviated and not only oisousSioh
cut of but the papers themselves swept away W i'
OF time and rules of order, this announcement Sees
little short Of the marvellous Section A. however ''ha'
of dstinctively natural sclence never sunereu nuoh
from that kind of pressure and this year is less oru
nate than usual in attracting vvacious speakers
think II Prof Wander Weyde were here ne couu s up
Section into life his vast range OF specia KhoWeoge
and his natural cOmbayeness enabled nm 70 sur up
AZ preyious sessions the most delightful little breezy
discussions on almost any subject Then ne had "on
derful microscope made up of the oldest combination
of and levers lenses and slides that ever was put
together; and with it microscopic objects were turned
inside out and upside down, and poarzed ana chem-
oalzed and subjected to all kinds OF analysis, spectral
ouanttatlve or destructive, and viewed with all sorS
of lights and powers until nothing seemed left but the
ultimate atoms or the unknowabe" The Microscopic
section droops in the absence Of that most vvaoous Of
Hollanders.
WHAT A TRILoBITEt
Nevertheless we had a little breeze late yesterday
afternoon not quite equal to that upon the sanisaus
thah NJ auf0
Dr. F. H. Day Of Wisconsin had read paper upon the
wenown fossil trlobite and had profusey illustrated
his address by blackboard drawings and fossil ana other
specimens. Now there never was geological cohee-
ton that had MT several specimens OF trloDtes' Ihey
are as inevitable Indian warcuDs in museum; anu
there are few fossils familiar to schooboy who mas
carried basket and hammer among the rocks as the
three-obed many-segmented, roundheaded dweiier on
| the shores OF ancient seas, looking something ike
lobster and something like crab and something Ike
horseshoe cast up the beach by rereatng tlde,
| and yet snguarly unlike them all In MS hulVluuai
peculiartes. Dr. Day undertook to prove that the
| trilobite was not only like externally but was
internally and reality similar to the crustaceans ne re-
sembled that he lived in shell, moving his segments
as lobster does his tall the purpose OF paddle ana
with interior muscular hbers similarly attached 10 INC
inside Of the she'll Indeed. Dr. Day went so iar as 10
undertake to show the places where the muscles had
been attached and to demonstrate the peculiar move
ments of the animal,
| In very Likeness Of roasted crab"
Then arose Prof. Morse of Salem, and declared MS
| disbelief in the lObster-shel theory. Too much ne
thought had attempted by nauralists who SOUGHT
as Dr. Day had, to find similarities between the dWe
ers in bygone ages and the creatures of to-day The
trlobte was the type of another era, and should DO 80
considered and cassed Its resemblance to the lobster
was external and fancifu It's cOngener OF the present
day was the limulus. not the lobster. Inc word
"limulus may said hgurativey to have brought up
Dr. Day on his hind legs In tones OF freezing scOrn nc
asked whether the Eastern gentleman was familiar With
the habits of the filthy limuus, that miserable mud
shoveler AS the trObite he, Dr. Day. should ever
think of that elegant crustacean only padding his
backward way in the pollucid waves OF sand-noored
ocean, and incapable of burrOwing head first as dd the
muus in muddy bottoms and amid slimy ooze The meet
ingpermitted Prof Morse again to reply Walking up 10
the blackboard and chalkng and talking with more
than even his usual rapdity, the Massachusetts man
saueehed the triobte down again into obscurity. He
showed that all the organs OF the crustace4, whether
legs or teeth claws feelers or eyes, were put mod
fled locomotive appendages As Tor the haDits Oh Ine
family they might be clean unclean; they might bur
row in the mud or spend their siesta on the rpped shore
But the relationship between the trlobite and the mu
us was not to be questioned, and the respectabity OF
the family element Of the problem. III was
question of morphOlogy aud embryology; buthe would
grant If that would suit Dr. Day, that perhaps the mu
s belonged to a decayed branch of the trobte family
II
bitterly till cut short by the rules of the Association
against the nasty mudshoveer with his segment
' THE FEMALE THE BETTER HALF.
II there were able debaters among the members OF the
Association present, opportunity has certainly not been
wanting I'm which to develop their ability. Think, for
instance of what magnificent subject for discussion
was offered by Prof. Hartshorne OF Pennsylvania, IN
paper on the relation between organic vgor and SEX IN
which he espoused the theory that the births OF females
were an indication of Of formative force and OF
males OF deficiency, the part Of the parents; and
that female Spring was index of the highest yigor
He began by alludinR to certain papers which Prof.
Meehan botanist of celebrity, had submitted 70 tho
Association wherein it set forth that the highest
types Of vegetation among the larch and conierous
trees were of the female kind He specifies that the
larch while in It's highest luxurance, and during many
years produces only female flowers but in its decline 1t
at length PRODUCES male flowers and it shortly after
ward dies Prof Hartshorne extended this theory 10
animal life and undertook to show that whenever or
wherever there Of formative power its ten
depey was to the production of female offspring. He
Illustrated his beliefby the development of bees the birth
of the queen bee being highest OF the drone the lowest
resu and preceded by respectively high and low ercum
stances OF nutrition. Sometimes working Dee-whcn'
being an imperfect female IS OF course Incapable OF I'M
preenaton-wl give birth TO parthenogenetic offspring
such offspring is always male. The eggs OF the queen
bee that hatch males have not been fertllzedi ana
should she never been impregnated and lay eggs
they will hatch only drones In respect to the aphdes
,p,ant Heel it ia noticeable that while their food Is su
dcent and of nutritious quality their offspring is exclu
sveIy females propagated parthenogeneticany; but
soon after the supply OF food owing to change OF sea-
con or circumstances is diminished, young male aphdes
appear Among the higher order of animals Prof.
Hartshorne found an argument In the sex OF double
monsters Stating that the birth Of double monsters was
due 10 fssure of the ovum and excess of formative
power he asserted that is well known that In the ma