REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 57 



MINERAL TECHNOLOGY. 



This division, the objects of which were partly incorporated in 

 the classification of 1881, has been actively organized for scarcely 

 more than a year, and owing to the complicated character of most of 

 the proposed exhibits rapid progress in their preparation is not 

 to be expected. For an explanation of these objects we can not do 

 better than draw upon material contained in a recent report of its 

 curator. Governmental organizations having alread}^ been estab- 

 lished for investigating the latent mineral resources, increasing effi- 

 ciency in their development, and the standardization of the products 

 therefrom, the division should be excluded from activity in any of 

 these directions. Again, in seeking new products or added refine- 

 ments wherewith to cater to the ever-widening demands of societ}^, 

 manufacturing interests in the field of mineral technology have be- 

 come awakened to the value of scientific research, no longer merely 

 relying on the casual findings of disinterested investigators. Every 

 important type of operation based on mineral research affords from 

 one laboratory to many devoted to researches problems involved in 

 widening the range of products, giving additional refinements to 

 those already in use, and studying their behavior under specific 

 conditions. As a result, new mineral derivatives, new uses of those 

 already established, and newly determined facts concerning their 

 adaptability are constantly accruing. For the dissemination of this 

 mass of most important information the public is almost wholly de- 

 pendent upon the industrial advertising manager, and however 

 accurate may be the contributions from such sources, they are bound 

 to fail in their broader educational value through the fact that the 

 information does not emanate from a disinterested source. In its 

 most purely technical aspect, therefore, the real opportunity of the 

 division to be of service lies, not in the direction of abstract re- 

 search, but in the exactly opposite one of rendering assistance toward 

 keeping the public in touch with important current developments 

 in mineral technology. 



The foregoing presents some of the purely utilitarian aspects in 

 the range of opportunity open to the division. An equally imi^ortant 

 and more fundamental opportunity is offered along the more conven- 

 tional lines of cultural information. By far the greater proportion 

 of the economic minerals, in one form or another, have grown to be 

 of importance in daily household life ; but extension of information 

 concerning them has not kept pace with extension in their use. 

 Everyone is interested in knowing of the source and preparation of 

 the materials in daily use, and by placing such information within 

 the range of popular comprehension the Museum would be rendering 

 a valuable service. 



