The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-09

ne louud LulS Fungus 70 De cioseiy
allied to the yeast plant, which raises
our bread and ferments our beer-a plant as i'm
portant to man as the wheat or sugar itself.
But the life history of the yeast plant is. and al
ways has been, mystery to the biologist. Mr..
Rose may have found the missing link in its
growth; at least, it looks like it. and will be pub
lished in the May number of the Botanical Ga
ze.te for what it is worth. We record what we
see
"Our students may have three years of elect
i've work in botany. The aim is to have them
do some original work in the senior year, and to
this end some Of them work every afternoon and
Saturdays also. Here is student who is to en-
ter one of the Eastern medical schools next fall.
de is at work, as you see, on the embryoogy
OF the vertebrates, and here are his dissections
and drawings. This man. as you see, by his
notebooks, drawings and preparations. is at
work upon the development of the organs of
hearing throughout the animal kingdom. Every
thing Is all ears to him, and his motto for every
animal is Take heed how it hears" Here
Professor Coulter ran his arm down into four
gallon can of alcohol and pulled out handful OF
small skulls-fshes, chickens, reptiles. possums,
and the like. dissected to show the remarkable
labyrinths and the structures of the middle and
the inner ear 1t is'needless to say the prepare
tions were exquisite. The tiny ear bones and
membranes were shown and made to vibrate as
was never seen nor done in costly papier
mache model from Paris.
Much similar work was seen in progress, and
all by elective students; no others climb these
stairs.
Much painless vivisection is encouraged par
tlcularly on cats, puppies, pigeons, frogs, tur-
ties and snakes, first anesthetizing the animal,
or destroying the centers of thought and con-
seriousness. In this way the students study the
respiratory movements, the blood flow, the
Tactical circulation, and the vitality of organs,
as the heart, when separated from the body.
The latter is conducted as study of the action
of the sympathetic nervous centers The total
fxfafa Af nc yv1A Of &c onff al
knowledge of animal structure and function, and
good preparation for students preparing to be
medical men,
Geology is developed by Prof. Coulter on the
evolutionary plan, as worked out by LIE Conte in
his Elements and Compend of Geology. The
museum is arranged in the order of appearance
OF animal and plant forms upon the earth, and
follows the set of charts published by the Chau-
tauqua Association, and arranged by Prof. E. d.
Cope, of Philadelphia. These charts Professor
Coulter recommended highly for the use of small
classes in high-schools and the like, which have
few collections. Scarcely less prominent in the
great museum room than the mammoth casts of
tertiary mammals made by Ward, of Roches.
ter, are the beautiful Charlottesville crinoids,
recently described in the Journal, and of
which the museum has the best
collection yet made, including many from which
new species were described. Here is the largest
crinoid-roots, stem, body and arms complete
known to any collection 1t is cyathocrinuS
best walnut tree in the campus is worth 5000,
but if made into ey' ,sive furniture, it would
not buy this fossil.
The collection of ammonites, from the south
of England, made by Professor Lewis, has been
added to the museum the present year One of
these is two feet in diameter--a giant pearly
nautilus, turned from lime to quartz, and now a
sparkling Jewel.
Prof. Lewis has also enriched the collection
with series of fossil fishes from Syria. Many
OF them are type specimens and there are no
duplicates except series the professor de-
posted in the British Museum. Their skeletons
are in black, upon creamcolored stone, and
are as cean-cut as type on paper.
Nestled among the minerals was series Of glass
models of the great jewels of the world--the dia-
monds of royal crowns, and Asiatic potentateS
These colored and cut as SMILES of the gems
themselves There is the great Kohinoor the
mountain of light" as it came from India, and
afterward cut for the British crown, and re-
duced one-thlrd In size to get rid Of a flaw.
Professor Coulter showing these
baubles to a class of a score of high school
girls from Indianapolis, who were spending their
May day visiting the only masculine college in
the State, and their EXPLANATIONS of wonder and
pleasure as the great Mogul, or Tavernier dia
mond. weighing $50 grains, and of the form and
size of half a hens egg passed from hand to hand
could not nave been excelled if they had pos
sessed for the moment the original gem. The
entire collection at Wabash is classified and ar
world. There are few duplicates and little mere
rubbish. Indiana birds, mammals and fishes are
but poorly represented, although the types in
both form and skeleton may be seen.
The new building cost $50, 600; it is constantly
visited by the citizens and is open from morn
ing to night. No fire or lamp is ever lighted in
it, but abundant steam heat is supplied by un-
foreground pipes from the common furnace
The total effect is excellent, and the collection is
of priceless value in teaching the natural
sciences.
In conclusion, it may be said that Indiana
need not be ashamed of the work done in science
within its borders. Kirkwood in astronomy,
Jordan and Gilbert in ichthyology, Coulter and
Barnes in botany. are among. the educators who
have also done original and pro-
ductive work; they have been more than
teachers, and their students more than
men seeking a sheepskin. Their names
are abroad in the land. and their fame has
crossed the seas; their writings have become
standardclass and textbooks for the colleges of
sister States. Indiana has, as State, paid little
attention, officially, to her natural history she
has no State botanist no entomologist, no for
ester, and has cut down her department of geol-
ogy and fish culture. What is known of Indiana
to science has come mainly from the universities.
These of course, are doing work also in chemis-
try and physics. Prof H. W. Wiley, an Indiana
man, has made himself known to the Nation as a
chemist, laying the basis of his work
while teacher at Purdue. Of the work done
in art and in the ''humanites," it is not the
time and place to speak. But as with the sci
ences, this work can be no better than its teach
ers; the stream does not rise higher than its
source What the Indiana colleges need is the
crying need of every college-men. Students
and material will come where these are; they
will flee from where they are not. And so the
board of trustees of the State University did
wisely in making professorship of botany, pro-
vided they could get Professor Coulter to fill the
chair. Better let a department drop than to
not have lit ably carried, is now
the watchword in scientific schools
Wabash did we'll TO hold on to Professor Cou-
ter. The State would do well to secure such .ren
at any price for its State schools. The trustees
of Rose Polytechnic commissioned President
Jones to seek the best man in the United States
for president of the new school of science, and
salary was not subordinated to talent
Professor Coulter has grown up with the State;
his sympathies are with Indiana, but, like many
prophets. he has not received the honor due
L. - 49, L