MERRILL SCnUCHERT 623 



At this time, even though all of Merrill's oflicinl time was taken up 

 with oflicial routine, he was in his liappiest years, saying; in 1901, 

 " The department, as a whole, was never in better condition than it 

 is to-day." 



The fjreatest administrative task that came to Merrill was the mov- 

 ing of the geological collections from the old and very much crowded 

 lirick buiKling to the far larger new granite one. A new arrange- 

 ment of the exhibition collections had to be thought out, and deci- 

 sions made regarding the type and arrangement of ca.ses and their 

 internal shelving. For this task Merrill had prepared himself while 

 in Europe. He says: 



I made studies of Russian, Enf:;lish, and otlicr European niuseuraa, with 

 special reference to cases and methods of insinuation, acquiring Informution 

 wliich became well-ulgh Invaluable to me in later years. (MS. 1924.) 



The preparation for this move and the actual moving from the 

 old into the new Museum between August, 1909, and June, 1910, was 

 indeed a great labor for all concerned with the National Museum. 

 Of the many consultations regarding it between the head curators 

 (Holmes, Stejneger, and Merrill) he says: 



I l)elieve our decisions In all these matters were the l)est and carried out 

 with as great economy of funds as ever occurred under similar conditions 

 anywhere. Our decisions for mahogany cases in place of steel were based upon 

 architectural considerations, and I still consider the decision a wise one. Our 

 exhibition halls certainly compare favorably with those of any natural history 

 museum In tlie world. 



The department of geology, starting in 1880 single-handed, had 

 in 1929 grown to a staff of 15 paid or honorary curators and asso- 

 ciates. In the way of material wealth the various sections then had 

 in their reserve and exhibition collections the following number of 

 specimens : 



Section of geology 93,044 



Section of mineralogy and petrologj' 132, 279 



225, 323 



Section of stratigraphic paleontology 1,705,000 



Section of vertebrate paleontology 24,497 



2, 015, 420 

 Truly a remarkable growth ! 



MERRILL AS PIONEER IN THE STUDY OF BUILDING STONES AND THE PROC- 

 ESSES OF ROCK WEATHERING 



Merrill appears to have been the first to make a systematic study 

 of stone for building purposes, and in America the first also to study 

 in detail the processes involved in rock weathering. " No material," 

 he says, " has yet been found so well adapted to the nobler forms of 

 architecture as stone.'' At the basis of this work lies the science of 

 petrology, which deals with the microstructure and chemical nature 



