Papers from the University Studies series (The University of Nebraska)

V. Mammalian Fossils from Devil’s Gulch

Erwin Barbour — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:20:18 PDT

The fauna of the beds at Devil's Gulch and vicinity is rich and varied, and promises to fill certain gaps in the Pliocene and early Pleistocene, where investigation seems especially desirable. The object of this paper is to make a partial faunal list and to describe two new proboscideans and a new equine.

I. On the Distribution and Composition of the Humus of the Loess Soils of the Transition Region

Morris Blish — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:20:17 PDT

The main object of this investigation has been to determine the distribution of the humus, to a depth of six feet, throughout the soils in representative virgin prairies of the so-called “transition region" of Nebraska. This region is the large area which extends westward from the Missouri River for a distance of over three hundred miles and which is covered, for the most part, with loess soil. This is, agriculturally, the most important soil in the state of Nebraska, and covers more than half the area of the state. The term "transition region" is employed to convey the idea of a gradual transition from a semi-arid condition, in the western part of the loess area, to a humid condition in the eastern part.
The term " humus " in this thesis is used to represent the humified organic matter in the soil, which is soluble in dilute alkalies. By the term "soil" is meant all soil through a depth of six feet, no line being drawn between surface-soil and subsoil.
The ratio of humus to total nitrogen was determined in the case of all soils of the first and second feet, while in all first-foot soils the nitrogen content of the humus was determined.
Considerable work, also, was done during the course of this research, with a view to determining which are the most satisfactory and practical methods for the determination of the above-mentioned soil-constituents, under different conditions.

IV. On a New Fossil Fungus from the Nebraska Pliocene

A. C. Whitford — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:20:16 PDT

While studying the fossil woods of Nebraska, under the direction of Dr. E. H. Barbour, it was my good fortune to find an interesting specimen. This specimen is in the collection of fossil woods in the Nebraska State Museum, and was collected by Dr. Barbour from the Pliocene, or Snake Creek beds, about 20 miles south of Agate, Nebraska, during the summer of 1911.
The specimen itself is about six inches long by four inches wide and two inches thick. It has the appearance of typical agatized wood, but has numerous limonite streaks running through it. Upon sectioning the specimen, there was no woody structure to be seen, except very isolated cells of resistant tissue, such as the separate cells of tracheae. It showed all the signs of complete decomposition save in exceptional places. From a series of sections, it seems that the specimen is an Angiosperm of the diffuse porous type, but no further classification is possible.

On the Color-Vocabulary of Children

Harry K. Wolfe — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:18:42 PDT

The very interesting investigations and discussions on the development of the color-sense in man, during historical times, have indirectly shown the deficiency of ancient languages in words for simple sensations. Even if the validity of the inference drawn by the original investigators is more than doubtful, their labor has not been in vain. In seeking evidence for the recent evolution of the sense of color, Gladstone, Geiger, and others have shown that few words denoting color are used in the earliest literature of several nations. Furthermore, most of the color-words found denote shades of red, orange, or yellow. Violet is never named, blue very seldom, and green much less frequently than we might expect from its occurrence in nature. Quite similar results have been obtained from examination of the vocabularies of modern uncivilized peoples. Although most tribes have names for the principal colors of the spectrum, the terms denoting red or yellow are far more numerous and much more definite than the others.

Studies of North American Bees

Myron Harmon Swenk — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:15:46 PDT

The present paper is the second of the series proposed in a previous contribution on the family Nomadidae (antea, XII, pp. 1- 113 ) , and aims to tabulate and list the bees of the family Stelididae occurring in Nebraska, together with annotations concerning their distribution, comparative abundance and season of flight. As in the previous study, records and descriptions of specimens from outside Nebraska before the writer are included where these seem to add anything to our knowledge of the species concerned.

On Certain Facts and Principles in the Development of Form in Literature

L. A. Sherman — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:12:36 PDT

Some ten years or more ago, on first attempting to teach English Literature historically, I found my attention peculiarly drawn to the differences of form between the sentences of More, Hooker, Lyly, and other early prosaists, and of approved stylists in our own age. Here was clearly an organic and sustained development, yet without scientific recognition of a single fact or principle of change. It seemed that something might easily be done towards determining the course of an evolution so evident and remarkable. But I had, or believed I had, no leisure for serious study of the subject, and found my interest inadequate to more than fitful theorizing as to what might one day be found at bottom. Certain phases in the development seemed probable enough, and from time to time I ventured talking incidentally to my classes concerning the structural reforms which must have preceded or enabled the simplicity and energy of our best modern prose. This was in reality, of course, much as if some barber surgeon of the middle age had assayed to divine and declare the processes of organic chemistry or embryology, and I think I realized the absurdity of it to some degree. At length it occurred to me it should be no long task at least to ascertain approximately how much the English sentence had shortened since the beginnings of modern prose. So I began simply counting the number of words in the periods of Chaucer, Fabyan, Ascham, Spenser, Lyly, and Joseph Hall, in order to determine an average for each and for the period in general, as means of comparison with later times. In this attempt I realized at once, what I had failed to comprehend before, that the punctuation in early writers is often signally false to both form and sense, therefore could not fail to misrepresent the authors and period in hand. But all such considerations, until some sort of foothold might be - reached, were disregarded; a period as found was taken as a period, no matter if beginning with a which or when, and ending without principal verb.

Dramatic Elements in American Indian Ceremonials

Virginia Shropshire Heath — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:08:57 PDT

"Poetry in general," says Aristotle, "seems to have sprung from two causes, each of them lying deep in our nature-first, the instinct of imitation ..., next, ... the instinct for 'harmony' and 'rhythm.'" Many of the lyric-legend-dance complexes of certain North American Indian religious ceremonials would seem to bear out this judgment. Indeed, in not a few of the unmistakably poetic expressions, there may be found well-defined dramatic elements suggesting the possibility of a developed, independent dramatic literature, had these savage peoples been left alone to initiate a civilization and culture of their own. The South American Indians were capable of evolving a secular form of drama, as Sir Clements Markham affirms on the strength of the romantic "Ollantay" of the Incas of Peru. Certainly the North American Indians, many of whom were superior in religious conceptions and practices to their more civilized kindred of the south, could have equaled if not surpassed them in the matter of dramatic expression. For the peoples of the north, the idea of religion, of genuine worship, still lay at the root of all dramatic production. Hence, out of the great admixture of savage love of song, of story, and of rhythm, heightened by religious terrors and spiritual yearnings, must be sifted the mimetic actions and speeches fundamental to the drama proper, especially to serious drama; for to the savage mind, Nature, in one conception or another, the great dispenser of the necessities as well as of the "good things" of life, is a matter of deadly earnest.

Revisions of Some Plant Phyla

Charles E. Bessey — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:05:20 PDT

In the time that has elapsed since the publication of my "Synopsis of Plant Phyla" (University Studies, Vol. VII, NO. 4) it has been possible to make many changes in the arrangement of the orders and families of several of the phyla. On account of their considerable number it is desirable to present these changes in one paper so as to accomplish the revision of the original paper with as little confusion as possible.

The Plant World is here regarded as readily separable into fourteen Phyla (often called "Branches" or "Divisions"). These are subdivided into Classes, and these again into Orders, and the latter into Families. The latest enumeration of the species of plants shows that we now know approximately a quarter of a million recognizable forms.

On the Sedges of Nebraska (Family Cyperaceae)

John Mallory Bates — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:02:05 PDT

The sedges (Family Cyperaceae) are grass-like plants, but easily distinguished from the true grasses (Poaceae) by the following characteristics: culms solid, pithy, cylindrical, trigonous or flattened. Grass culms by contrast are mostly hollow and cylindrical. Sheaths not open lengthwise opposite the leaf blade, tightly enclosing the culm. Spikes simple or compound, mostly subtended by leaflike bracts, which are sometimes longer than the culm. Spikelets one- to many-flowered, each flower subtended and sometimes embraced by a single short herbaceous or scarious bract or scale, the most characteristic mark of this family. Fruit an achene, trigonous, lenticular, or plano-convex; in the genus Carex only, it is enclosed in a herbaceous sac called the perigynium.

Like grasses, they grow in all kinds of soil from the wettest to the driest, in the densest shade and on the open prairie, from the tropics to the limits of vegetation in latitude and altitude. Many are especially hardy, and flourish in the altitudes where grasses are few, and start in the spring when pastures are still bare, affording short feed for stock when it is most needed. On the average, they are not as valuable for hay and pasturage as the grasses, which is plainly shown by the fact that man has never found one that seemed worthy of cultivation for agricultural purposes, in rivalry with the grasses, which constitute the most valuable family of plants for the use of man in civilization.

On the Determination of Specific Heat and of Latent Heat of Vaporization with the Vapor Calorimeter

Harold N. Allen — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:58:41 PDT

Joly, in 1886, and Bunsen, shortly afterwards, described two similar pieces of apparatus intended to determine the specific heat of substances by means of the condensation of water vapor upon them. The name given by Bunsen to this apparatus and adopted here is vapor calorimeter. Bunsen also intended his instrument to be used in the determination of the latent heat of vaporization of various liquids, and it is the object of the present paper to describe experiments testing the steam or vapor calorimeter in this direction. A rough experimental instrument was first constructed, combining to a certain extent the principles of Joly and of Bunsen, and this proving fairly satisfactory, an apparatus was made by a local tinman, which, while much less expensive than Joly's final form, worked in a very satisfactory manner.

On the Transparency of the Ether

DeWitt B. Brace — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:46:07 PDT

Whether light coming from the remotest members of the visible universe has not been enfeebled to a greater extent than the variation of distance would require, is still an open question. If there be absorption at all, it must be exceedingly small through spaces comparable with the dimensions of the solar system, in order that the light of these distant bodies may be perceived.

It is proposed in the present paper to investigate the phenomena which would occur if the energy were absorbed by the ether itself through frictional forces or imperfect elasticity. If absorption does take place, there must be a differential effect for varying wave-lengths, if the ether satisfies the equations of motion of elastic bodies. Several arguments have been advanced as proving that such an absorption takes place; of which those of Cheseaux, Olbers, and Struve are the most celebrated. Considerations on other grounds would seem to suggest such a conclusion. Cheseaux and Olbers, arguing from insufficient data as to stellar distribution, have shown that if the number of stars is infinite and distributed with anything like uniformity in space there must be absorption of light, as otherwise the sky would appear all over of a brightness approaching that of the sun, since the brightness at any point depends on the depth of the luminous layer and the solid angle which it subtends at that point.

Studies on Human Parasites in North America: I. Filaria loa

Henry B. Ward — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:58:02 PST

Introduction. Origin and scope of paper. Data on new cases in North America. Cases of Filaria loa on record. List of genuine cases. Cases wrongly assigned to Filaria loa. Morphology of Filaria loa. Structure of the parasite. Life history. Taxonomy. Geographical distribution. Pathology of Filaria loa. Seat of the parasite. Effects on the host. Calabar swellings. Clinical data. Case of Milroy. Case of Lota. Critical bibliography of Filaria loa. Annotated list of references.

In February, 1902, Dr. W. F. Milroy, of Omaha, brought me a specimen in alcohol which he had just removed from the eye of a patient and which he believed to belong to the rare and interesting African species, Filaria loa. He expressed a desire that I make a more precise examination of the specimen and that our results be included in a joint communication. The study of this specimen demonstrated that it was in fact Filaria loa and disclosed some interesting features in the anatomy which, together with Dr. Milroy's clinical observations, were presented before the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1902. Circumstances have delayed the appearance of the final paper beyond all expectation, and meantime a contribution by Looss (1904) has dealt with the anatomy of this species so fully as to cover all the points I had worked out. Indeed the admirable work of this author sets the limits for anatomical studies for many years to come, Accordingly, the part of this contribution dealing with the anatomy has been reduced to a brief summary.

Plant Migration Studies

Charles E. Bessey — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:48:58 PST

It is a familiar fact that new species appear from time to time among the native plants of a region. Such newcomers turn out on examination to be new only in the sense that they have not previously lived in the region, and in every instance these new plants are found to have come from other regions where they had existed for a longer or shorter period of time. In some cases the new species remain for a time and then disappear, or at least become inconspicuous, but more commonly they crowd in among the former plants and become permanent members of the plant community. Whenever such an addition is made to the flora of a region there is a readjustment of the former species, with a necessary change in the relative numbers of the individuals, and the particular habitat of each. In the case of annual plants, these adjustments are made rapidly, so that in a short time the prominent features of the plant community may be entirely changed. On the other hand, in the case of perennial plants there is greater stability, new species finding greater difficulty in entering, and the old species giving away, if at all, only after the lapse of a much longer time. A vegetation which is well rooted in the ground is much less easily disturbed than one whose roots live for but a single season and then abandon the particular plot of ground where they grow. Forests are therefore conservative plant communities, into which new species gain entrance with difficulty, and which change very slowly after such entrance has been effected. There is only one other plant community whose stability approaches that of the forest, namely, the grassy vegetation of the prairies and plains, which is composed of perennial-rooted grasses, sedges, and rushes. Where these form a close sod new species are almost wholly excluded, and but little change takes place in the character of the vegetation. It is only where the surface is not closely covered that the grassy vegetation is more easily modified by the incoming of new species. Where accident, or disease, or some other cause has destroyed the grassy covering new species promptly take possession. A fine example of this is to be seen in the growth of Helianthus annus on the mounds made on the prairies by such burrowing animals as gophers and prairie dogs. Where the tough sod was broken by the freight-wagons which crossed Nebraska by various "trails" many years ago botanists find many newcomers, which could not have gained a foothold in the unbroken sod.