X. APRIL 30, 1959
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
4l. " "
Y AI~RIL an. 1959 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
FOSSIL FINDERS:
Museum Paleontologists Carry on Vital Research
4-
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the third
in a series of four articles discussing
research in the University natural
science museums.)
By SHARON EDWARDS
At their first meeting in 1837,
the University Board of Regents
provided for a "Cabinet of Natural
History" to display various items
as they were acquired.
From this humble beginning of
a few fossils housed in a profes-
sor's home, the University Mu-
seum of Paleontology has devel-
opled to the lar'ge and complex re-
search center it is today.
Studies Flora Fossils
Prof. Chester A. Arnold, of both
the botany and geology depart-
ments, is the Museum's Curator of
Paleobotany. Prof. Arnold has just
completed a study of the flora fos-
sils on the Arctic coast of Alaska.
In 1951, he received a grant
from the Office of Naval Research
to make a search for plant fossils
in this largely untouched area. He
was stationed for two months at
the Arctic Research Laboratory at
Point Barrow, a headland on the
northern extremity of Alaska.
Here he made an initial search of
the virtually uninhabited tundra.
Prof. Arnold has just sent off
the completed manuscript of his
report to be published. "The study
of fossil flora provides most of our
knowledge of past climates," Prof.
Arnold said. "With a thorough
knowledge of the manner in which
climate zones changed in the past,
we may be able to predict some-
thing of future climate changes.''
Discovers Fossilized Plants
He is also at work on some fos-
silized plants he discovered in
Oregon about 10 years ago. The
fossils were originally part of the
luxuriant vegetation of an Eocene
swamp in a volcanic area. Water
bearing much dissolved mineral
substance from the volcanic ash
infiltrated the entire plant, result-
ing in specimens of such a perfect
state that cellular and nuclear
structure are still visible under
the microscope.
I Prof. George M. Ehlers is one
of the Museums' two curators of
Paleozoic invertebrates. He is
presently engaged in three main
research projects.
The first of these is a joint proj-
ect with Prof. J. J. Galloway, of
Indiana University. They are
studying an extinct group of ani-
mals thought to be related to the
present-day hydrozoa.
In collaboration with Mr. Jean
D. Wright, Prof. Ehlers is engaged
in the study of a fossil collection
made in North America in the
1840's by a French Count, Fran-
coise de Castelnau. Such system-
atic re-studies are necessary to
avoid a confusion of nomenclature
over various species. He and Mrs.
Wright have already published
some papers on their work.,
land animals. Through his study
and dating of various types of
mollusks, the stages of develop-
ment of the mountain range can
be determined.
Prof. Kellum has also devoted
much time to a study of the geol-
ogy of the Sierra Tlahualilo, a
Mexican mountain range. He
mapped the mountain range,
measured rock sections and col-
lected invertebrate fauna fossils.
Prof. Robert V. Kesling is the
Curator of Micropaleontology. He
r _-- - 1
1
11"
Two Youths
Injured
In Collision
Two high school students were
badly injured yesterday afternoon
in a motorcycle crash on Stadium
Blvd.
A junior high school student's
motor scooter collided with a Uni-
versity student's sports car an
hour and a half later in front of
East Quadrangle.
The scooter-sportsacarhaccident
happened at 6 p.m. at the corner
of Monroe and East University
Sts. James Cobb was driving a
motor scooter south on East Uni-
versity, according to Robert Mal-
colm, 16 years old; a witness.
A sports car driven by John
Blakey, '59, pulled out from Mon-
roe St. to turn left onto East Uni-
versity, Malcolm said. Seeing the
scooter, Blakey stopped. Cobb put
on his brakes, slid on, the pave-
ment wet from rain, and hit the
car with the back of his scooter.
Cobb was taken to St. Joseph
Mercy Hospital and released un-
injured. No tickets were issued.,
in the other accident, two high
school students on a motorcycle
apparently piled into a car driven
by Rudolph Eibler of 1617 W.
Stadium Blvd.
Eiber told police he had just
backed out of his driveway, after
stopping toFlook. Seeing nothing
coming he was in the next-to-
center lane about to start forward.
He heard a crash, he said, and
felt something hit his car.
The students were taken to Uni-
versity Hospital. James Weber was
reported last night to be in serious
condition with a head injury. Jack
Vitale was reported to have a back
injury and a fractured left wrist
and to be in fair condition.
Car Crislis
PARIS - Two Cadillacs and
a Rolls Royce played a game of
musical chairs in the postage
stamp size compound of the
residence of the American am-
bassador yesterday.
The cars emerged unscathed
but Protocol took a beating.
Maneuvering like three ele-
phants in a bathtub, the lim-
ousines were jockeyed back and
forth by their poker-faced
chauffers, there to pick up
guests departing from a
luncheon.
The, British Embassy Rolls
Royce which had carried For-
eign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd to
the luncheon - barged stern
first through one of the com-
pound gates.
HISTORIC FAIR LANE - The University's Dearborn Center will open In the fall on Henry
Ford's Fair Lane estate. Meetings announcing the opening will be held today at 4 and 7:30 p.m.
in Adid. A, Angell Hall. University Vice-President William Stirton will tell about the Center and
answer questions concerning its opening to those present at either of the identical meetings.
Dearborn Center Boasts Fair Lane
MONTH-MEND
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-Daily-Robert Dennis
GEOLOGIST AT WORK-Reginald G. Moore, Grad., studies a
rock formation in the Hoback Basin of Wyoming. 'He and other
students have worked with Prof. Lewis B. Kellum, director of the
Museum of Pathology, in collecting and studying animal fossils
from this area.
Prof. Claude W. Hibbard is the
Museum's Curator of, Vertebrate
Paleontology. Prof. -Hibbard's re-
search has been concentrated in
a geographic area in southwest
Kansas, northwest Oklahoma and
the Oklahoma Panhandle.
Glacial activity through the
ages has changed the climate of
this area repeatedly. With each
change of climate came a new
animal population.
Maps Climate Changes
"This is the only place in the
world," said Prof. Hibbard, "where
a sequence of climate changes has
been mapped out from the fauna
of one specific area."
Prof. Hibbard's enormous man-
uscript is now ready for publica-
tion. In the collections from. this
area are such varying fossilized
animals as camels, jaguars and
tropical bats from warmer cli-
mate eras and spruce-pollen, yel-
low perch and muskellunge from
colder climate eras.
Prof. Lewis B. Kellum is direc-
tor of the entire Museum of Pa-
leontology as well as its curator of
Mesozoic and Cenozoic Inverte-
brates. Prof. Kellum's research
largely centers around the in-
vertebrate fauna of the Hoback
Formation in Wyoming.
Contains Fossils
This basin area, a depression
between high mountain ranges,
contains fossils of fresh water and
has many research projects un-
derway. Among them are a prep-
aration of a series depicting
growth of a type of Devonian ech-
inoderm. The knowledge of such
growth processes is vital to an un-
derstanding of the evolution of
the animal.
He is also making the first study
of the jaw construction of moss-
saur, an extinct marine reptile. He
does this through the study of an
ammonite fossil bearing mosasaur
tooth marks, as many as 16 differ-
ent sets of such marks.,
Completes Monograph
Prof. Erwin C. Stumm, Curator
of Paleozoic Invertebrates, has
just completed a monograph of
the famous fossil coral reef'known
as the Falls of the Ohio. This is
the result of seven years' work of
over 600 type specimens of fossil
corals. His manuscript Was.over
500 pages long and contained80
plates.
Prof. Stumm is also beginning
.work on fossil trilobites of the
northern peninsula of Michigan.
He will make a systematic descrip-
tion and attempt to determine
their life history, so as, to trave
their evolution from other forms.
The University Museum of Pa-
leontology sponsors research, such
as that of these six men, which
has far-reaching influences on
every area of natural science.
URBAN RENEWAL:
Federal Officials Seek June
As End for Fund Application
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Lanz swimsuit to
to capture the hearts of the
sand and surf set.
Federal government officials still
want the city to complete in June
most of the steps it must take be-
fore submitting its final applica-
tion for federal Urban Renewal
funds.
This news was reported by a
local official about an informal
meeting Tuesday of most of the
City Council, city officials and two
officials from the Housing and
Home Finance Agency Chicago
regional office.
The June date does not apply,
however, to a referendum the city
may want to have about providing
its share of the cost of the pro-
ject. The city merely has to for-
mally commit itself by mid-June
to have such a vote by September.
City Council asked 'on April 20
for a time extension to Sept. 1.
The week before, the city had been
asked by the HHFA to submit its
final plans by June so -that the
federal-level steps preliminary to
the signing of a contract could be
completed by June 30.
What the city will do next was
not announced. After the meeting,
held at luncheon, the federal of-
ficials talked with Mayor -Cecil 0.
Creal at his home, after his release
from a brief stay at St. Joseph
Mercy Hospital.
Orgnizatton I
Noices
Christian Science Org, testimony
meeting, April 30, 7:30 p.m., .League:
See bulletin board in main lobby for
room number.
Italian Club, final coffee hour of the
semester, April 30, 3-5 p.m., 3050 FB.
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