32 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1913. 



third among museum collectioris in this comitry, being exceeded only 

 by those in the Field Museum of Natural History and the American 

 Museum of Natural History, while abroad it is surpassed only by the 

 collections in the British Museum and the museum of natural history 

 at Vienna. Also installed in this hall is the Shepard collection of 

 meteorites, comprising 464 specimens, representing 237 falls, which 

 has been on deposit m the Museum for some years. 



Writing upon the subject, Dr. George P. Merrill has remarked that 

 the interest in this collection is partly geological and partly astronomi- 

 cal. It is now generally understood that whatever theory one may 

 accept regarding world formation, for the materials of which the world 

 is formed one must look to outside sources — that is, to space. While 

 astronomy and the spectroscope have shown a close similarity, if not 

 identity, in Idnds of materials throughout the universe, the meteorites 

 after all give the only really tangible clue to the stony nature of 

 celestial bodies. Their study with particular reference to their 

 efficiency as world-making material is, therefore, peculiarly instruc- 

 tive, and it is greatly to be deplored that their rarity and the fasciaa- 

 tion attached to them by reason of their source has caused them to 

 be sought by those who are mere collectors, and has so forced their 

 prices as almost to prohibit their use in scientific research. 



Mineralogy. — The collections of mineralogy and apphed geology 

 occupy jointly the entire second story of the east wing. Mineralogy, 

 however, is confined to the haU on the south side of the light weU, 

 measuring 169 feet 7 inches long by 31 feet 6 inches Avide and furnish- 

 ing 5,342 square feet of floor space. The installation comprehends 

 three series of exhibits. The first is a systematic one, in which an 

 attempt is made to show all the known mineral species, which are 

 arranged according to the classification of E. S. Dana, in his "System 

 of IVIineralogy," in 14 American cases along the north side of the haU. 

 The second consists of specimens of the same nature, less systemati- 

 cally arranged, but notable for their beauty and exceptional size, 

 which latter prevents their incorporation in the systematic series. 

 It is mainly displayed in 9 upright floor cases on the south side of the 

 haU, and conspicuous among its features are illustrations of the 

 occurrence in nature of siHca and carbonate of lime. A group of 

 Brazilian amethysts, a large beryl from Ackworth, N. H., and a 

 copper bowlder from Ontonagon, Mich., are mounted on bases, and 

 contained in a small case is an exhibit of such nongaseous elements 

 as occur uncombuied in natm'e. 



The third series in the mineral hall consists of the gems and precious 

 stones composing what is known as the Isaac Lea Collection, which 

 ranks second among the pubhc collections of its kind in this country. 

 It had its beginning in an exhibit of precious stones made by the 

 National Museum at the Cincinnati and New Orleans expositions in 



