198 Field Museum of Natural History— Reports, Vol. X 



something of a problem, as it is impossible to paint identifying 

 numbers on them without destroying their value. The problem was 

 solved by carefully measuring each pearl and weighing it on the 

 chemical balance, so that if the pearls ever became mixed they could 

 be sorted out by re-measuring and re-weighing. 



Members of the Department staff contributed eleven signed 

 articles and twenty-seven other notes to Field Museum News; and 

 supplied data used in thirty newspaper publicity articles. Requests 

 from correspondents and visitors for information and identification 

 of specimens came in larger numbers than usual. There were 443 

 visitors and 296 correspondents referred to the Department for these 

 and similar services. 



accessions — geology 



During the year the Department of Geology received seventy 

 accessions comprising 1,458 specimens. Of this number 1,178 were 

 gifts, 105 were received through exchanges, six were purchased, and 

 169 came from Museum expeditions or were collected by members 

 of the staff. Specimens received by gift included many above 

 average in quality and value. 



The most important gift of the year was a collection of culture 

 and Oriental pearls presented by Mr. Kokichi Mikimoto, of Tokyo, 

 Japan. This consists of thirteen culture pearls artificially propagated 

 in pearl oysters and selected to show a range in color and size. For 

 comparison the culture pearls are accompanied by six natural Oriental 

 pearls. Included in the gift is a partially dissected pearl oyster, and 

 several pearl oyster shells with brilliant mother-of-pearl interior 

 surface. 



An important and attractive addition to the collection of orna- 

 mental minerals is a statuette, nine inches high, presented by R. 

 Bensabott, Inc., of Chicago. This figure of a man in Japanese 

 costume is carved from a block of crocidolite, or tiger-eye, a mineral 

 noted for its brilliancy and the glowing golden silky sheen of its 

 polished surface. 



Gifts of ores and minerals exhibited at A Century of Progress 

 exposition were received from four of the exhibitors. The largest 

 of these was a collection of thirty-two ores and industrial minerals 

 of Alaska presented by the Alaska Museum, of Juneau. These 

 specimens, representing a widely diversified range of mineral resources 

 in the territory, are a valued addition to the economic collections 

 as Alaska had been represented mostly by gold and tin ores. The 

 Luray Caverns Corporation presented two large stalactites and three 



