APPENDIX TO THE REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 100 



aud laborious one, involving many weigbings of a deliquescent sub- 

 stance, which had to be done with the greatest rapidity, and at the 

 same time with accuracy; also the making of some fifty careful assays, 

 giving the chemist nearly a month of hard and dirty work. Another 

 question referred to the chemist through Mr. Ehees, of the Institution, 

 was the character of the coloring matter used on the small squares of 

 paper given to the children in the Kindergarten schools of the Distri(;t 

 and elsewhere. This paper is a thin paper, colored and glazed on one 

 side (in most cases), cut into five-inch squares, and is given to the chil- 

 dren to cut up and fashion into various patterns. 



The chemist regrets that he has not been able to find time to make 

 more than a brief qualitative examination of the subject. Eighteen 

 samples of paper were tested for arsenic, and out of that number six 

 samples were found to contain a large aDiount of arsenic in different 

 forms, probably the most dangerous being a bright green paper, the 

 coloring matter being the brilliant but deadly Scheele's green. The 

 other colors found to contain arsenic were inirple, solferino, navy blue, 

 carmine red, and vermillion red. Another investigation undertaken by 

 the chemist for prominent private parties was a thorough testing of the 

 so-called Robertson electric process for the reduction of gold ores. This 

 process, like the Tichnor, is utterly at variance with accepted ideas of 

 chemists and metallurgists, and the investigation showed similar results 

 to the Tichnor in proving it'-of little value. In addition to these inves- 

 tigations the chemist has undertaken numerous analyses and assays for 

 private parties of no particular chemical interest. The time of the chem- 

 ist has of late been entirely occupied in overhauling and recording the 

 vast amount of reserve material stored in the Institution, the object 

 being to make a complete record of duplicates and reserves aud to elimi- 

 nate all worthless material and make room for new contributions. 



