The Survey October 1916-March 1917 . reat scientists of Europe have ranked the sand dunes ofIndiana with the Grand Canyon and the Yosemite in scien-tific importance. At the hearing Prof. T. C. Chamberlain,of the geology department of trfe University of Chicago, em-phasized the chance to see in the dunes the assorting, selectingand rearranging processes which control the evolution of theearths surface, and which, usually consuming slow centuriesin small changes, here work swiftly before our very eyes. The action of wind and water upon soil, the spectacularmoving, year by year, of sand hills unt
The Survey October 1916-March 1917 . reat scientists of Europe have ranked the sand dunes ofIndiana with the Grand Canyon and the Yosemite in scien-tific importance. At the hearing Prof. T. C. Chamberlain,of the geology department of trfe University of Chicago, em-phasized the chance to see in the dunes the assorting, selectingand rearranging processes which control the evolution of theearths surface, and which, usually consuming slow centuriesin small changes, here work swiftly before our very eyes. The action of wind and water upon soil, the spectacularmoving, year by year, of sand hills until they have coveredwhole forests, the adaptation of vegetation to this shiftinganchorage are all to be seen on the dunes. They are a pic-turesque battleground between plant life and the are also a common meeting-ground, because of peculiarclimatic conditions, for trees and flowers from all directions:desert cactus and arctic bear-berry, swamp, forest and prairieplants. The vegetation attracts a great variety of birds,. NOT SNOW-SHOEING, BUT SAND-SLIDING 263 264 T II E SURVEY E O R DECEMBER g , i g i 6 which, if the region were owned by the government and pro-tected by the national preserve laws, would take refuge therein vast numbers. It is invaluable, for these reasons, as ascience laboratory, and is in wide use by hundreds of studentgroups. Zonia Barber of the University of Chicago, and Dr. OtisW. Caldwell of the Geographical Society showed how thedunes can likewise supply that most necessary side of elemen-tary education, so meagerly offered in the machinery of a greatcity school system and too often put in the category of a fad:the opportunity for the free normal use of the five senses, forobjectified concrete situations out of which we may trainour children. Organized education is not alone, however, in its need ofthe dunes. Chicago, which is within two hours railway jour-ney of them, ranks thirty-eighth among American cities inpark area per capita. Boston h
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