DEPARTMENT OF METALLHRav AND ECONOMTO GF.OEOGY. 251 



About 1,500 pounds of coal will be required for oaeh test, so tliat at 

 least 20 tons of each coal will be required for a thorough examination. 

 The samples of coal should be furnished by the mining companies or 

 oth«r parties interested. 



To properly inaugurate the investigation would require an api)ropri 

 atiou of at least $20,000. 



The total number of specimens in the department is about 48,000. Of 

 these 17,000 have been placed in the exhibition series, (>, 145 have been 

 assigned to the reserve series, 1,50.'} to the duplicate series, and twenty- 

 one boxes of duplicate material have been placed on general storage, 

 besides the specimens definitely assigned to the reserve series, tliere is 

 yet a largo mass of unorganized material that for the present and for 

 sometime to come must i)e classed in the reserve series. 



As the material of this department liecomes more tluu'oughly organ- 

 ized, both the richness and the deficiencies of the collections that formed 

 the basis of its inauguration become more and more apparent. 



The collections illustrating the mineral wealth of our own country 

 are full and complete, as nt^arly every prominent mining locality is well 

 represented, so that the colle(;tions show very comjjletely where and to 

 what extent valuable deposits have already beeu found or may be 

 looked for; but of the nature of the ores and the methods of occur- 

 rence in various localities, and of the processes of mining and prepara- 

 tion of the material, the illustrations are very meager and incomplete. 



The curator has made many attempts by correspondence to enlist the 

 aid of friends engaged in mining, and \\ hile these efforts have frequently 

 resulted in much valuable material being gathered, yet despite the 

 utmost care in describing what is wanted, and an apparent willingness 

 in the parties addressed to take a little trouble in the matter, it has 

 been very difficult indeed to gather such systematic collections as ai'e 

 needed. 



The department is already tolerably well supplied with large and 

 showy specimens, an<l is abuiulantly supplied with the ordinary run of 

 museum specimens; but what is needed are systematic collections, 

 which need not necessarily be large, gathered with especial reference 

 to showing the nature, the methods of occurrence of the various ores 

 in different regions, to illustniting the methods of mining pursued, and 

 to showing the method of in-e])aring the ores for smelting. Now, most 

 mining engineers have not the time to devote to making these collec- 

 tions as they should be nuule, for to do the work i)roperly requires con- 

 siderable time and exertion ; so that in order to get just what we want 

 it is absolutely essential to make it an object for some one to do the 

 work. 



The original collections illustrating the utilization of the mineral re 

 sources of the country, consisted for the most part of elaborate and 

 liighly wrought samples of the finished |)r()du<;t, showing little or noth- 

 ing of tlir nietliodsor i)i(Mluction ; so thai t!!(M'<)llections taken togetluT 



