MINERALOGY. 



53 



The Passing of the Drawer Cabinet 

 Case. 



BY CIIAS. H. PENNYPACKER, WEST 

 CHESTER, PA. 



A half a century ago, when my in- 

 terest in mineralogy began, the ap- 

 proved method of housing a collection 

 was a cabinet of drawers and the trim- 

 ming and adjusting of the specimens 

 was made with the design of placing 

 them in such drawers. Many a good 

 crystal, many a fine specimen, were 

 sacrificed to the drawer habit. 



When George J. Brush of New 

 Haven was assembling his collection 

 of crystals some of the best to be had 

 were turned over by him to the Yale 

 College collection because they were 

 too large for his purposes. As his 

 collection increased he saw the mis- 

 take he had made in not providing a 

 large open case for his large speci- 

 mens. 



When Clarence S. Bement of Phila- 

 delphia concluded to sell his collection 

 the drawer specimens were magnifi- 

 cent and exceedingly choice ; but the 

 large open-case specimens, as they 

 brilliantly shone through the glass 

 fronts, were decisive factors in the dis- 

 position of that remarkable cabinet. 



Dr. Spencer of Tarrytown, New 

 York, lined a room with open cases 

 containing large specimens of quartz 

 crystals from the Ellenville Copper 

 Mine in Ulster County, New York. 

 The effect was dazzling, and his friends 

 and neighbors called it "The diamond 

 room." 



In the early sixties there was a 

 boarding school at Newburgh, New 

 York, kept by Mr. Reed. His col- 

 lection of minerals was contained in 

 two glass show-cases located in his 

 parlor. They were all large specimens, 

 showy and brilliant, and produced a 

 marked impression upon his callers, 

 who happened to be there placing their 

 daughters at school. Mr. Reed was 

 certainly a gentleman of wonderful at- 

 tainments and such excellent taste, all 

 of which comment was produced by 

 the sight of these brilliant soecimens. 



In self defence of the distemoer of 

 natural science the collector of min- 

 eralogical Specimens will surely ex- 

 hibit his treasures in open cases. The 



observers will not consult the label 

 unless they have exactitude allied with 

 curiosity. In such event the assem- 

 blage of mineral specimens will adorn 

 the reception room of the household 

 and contribute to the gayety and de- 

 light of visiting friends. They will 

 not be consigned to the limbo of a 

 third story back room but will have 

 the post of honor and the public station 

 in the parlor. 



After the mortuary exercises of the 

 collector have been concluded and his 

 family turn about to dispose of his 

 collections they will find that the large, 

 showy crystals and the attractive 

 masses of crystallization will favor- 

 ably impress the trustees of a college, 

 which may desire to strengthen its 

 examples in natural science. Though 

 the collector may have a scientific mind 

 yet it should always be on business 

 bent. We must look forward as well 

 as backward. We must consider the 

 changed and changing conditions as 

 they are about us. 



A few weeks ago H. D. Miller of 

 Plainville, Conn., was surprised be- 

 cause I had shipped him several speci- 

 mens of Calcite of Museum size and I 

 cheerfully explained to him that tastes 

 in the arrangement of a Cabinet had 

 decidedly changed within a score of 

 years and that it was our duly to keep 

 pace with the ideas of improvement and 

 the improvement of ideas. 



Tourmalines can be extracted from 

 a matrix by soaking in cold water and 

 tapping the crystals lightly with a 

 hammer. 



The cataracts of the Nile are due to 

 granite veins which the river, while 

 working a way through the sandstone, 

 has been unable to destrov or remove. 



The various colors in tnrquoise are 

 due to copper oxide while the presence 

 of iron tends to give a greenish tint 

 to the mineral. 



From one ton of ordinary gas coal 

 may be produced fifteen hundred 

 pounds of coke, twenty gallons of 

 ammonia water and one hundred and 

 forty pounds of coal tar. 



