72 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



College of Holy Cross, Worcester. No report. 



Harvard university museum, Cambridge. Alexander Agassiz^ 

 director; Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, professor of geology; Wil- 

 liam Morris Davis, Stiirgis professor of geology; John Eliot Wolff^ 

 professor of petrography amd mineralogy, curator of mineralogy* 

 Charles Palache, assistant professor of mineralogy; George Lin- 

 coln Goodale, professor of natural history; ^Villiam Gibson Far- 

 low, professor of cnjptogamie hotaovy; Benjamin Lincoln Robinson,, 

 Asa G-ray professor of botany. 



Geology. The geologic collections illustrate dynamic, histor- 

 ical and other branches of geology, physiography and geography, 

 etc. There are three rooms provided for exhibitions but aside 

 from a large model by Curtis of the Boston metropolitan dis- 

 trict there are as yet no exhibits in these rooms. 



Mineralogy. The collection was founded in 1793 and is the 

 oldest natural history collection in the university and probably 

 the oldest public collection of minerals in America. The public 

 collection is exhibited on two floors of the mineralogic section 

 of the museum in flat floor cases and vertical cases arranged 

 against the walls. 



The lower or main floor contains the systematic collection 

 arranged according to Dana's system, including about 10,00(> 

 specimens with the special collections arranged in the upper 

 floor or gallery. The latter include a collection of 600 agates, 

 partly cut and polished, collections illustrating the physical 

 characters of minerals, and will ultimately include a small col- 

 lection of rocks. In the gallery is the Hamlin collection of 

 tourmalins, from Paris Me., the largest in existence. The col- 

 lection of meteorites includes examples of 291 falls with a total 

 weight of 2700 pounds; in 24 falls the museum has the largest 

 amount of that fall. In the laboratories and workrooms con- 

 nected with the museum are duplicates, specimens used for 

 teaching etc., which bring the total mineral specimens worth 

 enumerating to about 25,000; there are also a great many thou- 

 sand specimens of rocks, with thin sections. The mineralogic 

 museum includes a large number of rooms amply equipped for 



