remarkable interest, which form special features of this 

 Museum, and probably have not their like in any institution 

 in the country. These are generally spoken of as (1) the 

 Russian collection, illustrating the great mining region of 

 the Ural mountains, and (2) the Shepard collection of phos- 

 phates made and presented by Dr. C. U. Shepard, Jr., illus- 

 trating all the forms and varieties of phosphate of lime and 

 phosphate rocks, from all parts of the world, for comparison 

 with those of South Carolina. Both of these were obtained 

 during the curatorship of Dr. Manigault, in 1879, and from 

 their special character, are kept distinct, and not merged in 

 the general collection. 



A brief account may here be given of the character and 

 contents of these two interesting sets of mineral specimens. 



The Russian collection contains 230 specimens, most of 

 them of rather large size, presented by the Imperial Mining 

 Institute at St. Petersburg. Precisely how this noble gift 

 was secured for the Museum does not appear. If no record 

 can be found here, inquiry will be made from the Imperial 

 Institute, whence it can surely be supplied. It is a matter 

 of great interest, to know through what agency this rare 

 and valuable series of specimens was obtained. All of them 

 are numbered, to correspond with a complete catalogue with 

 exact localities. 



The collection is mainly economic, consisting of ores of all 

 important minerals mined in the celebrated Ural region. 

 It contains also many rare minerals, and many handsome 

 examples of the ornamental and semi-precious stones of 

 the Russian mines, such as beryl, emerald, topaz, garnet, 

 malachite, azurite. and the quartz minerals. Although 

 mainly from the Ural mountains, it represents many other 

 localities, ranging from Riga and Finland, across to Lake 

 Baikal and the Altai mountains, and south to Baku on the 

 Caspian. No such exhibit of Russian minerals can probably 

 be found in any other Museum in the United States. 



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