50 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN ESrSTITUTION, 1964 



Chairman George Switzer of the department of mineral sciences 

 completed his annual review of the diamond industry and, with ana- 

 lytical chemist Koy S. Clarke, Jr., et al., completed a manuscript on 

 "Fluorine in Hambergite." 



Dr. Paul E. Desautels, associate curator of mineral sciences, com- 

 pleted a study of one of the rare uranium minerals known as 

 "sklodowskite," a hydrous magnesium uranyl silicate, from a new 

 locality in Mexico. 



At the beginning of the year associate curator of mineral sciences 

 Dr. E. P. Henderson was in Australia prospecting for meteorites and 

 tektites. He continued working there until October, in company with 

 Dr. Brian Mason of the American Museum of Natural History, New 

 York, and Dr. E. V. Chalmers of the Australian Museum. They 

 collected meteorite material from four well-lmown Australian craters, 

 Henbury, Boxhole, Wolf Creek, and Dalgarange; relocated the Dal- 

 gety Downs meteorite and recovered nearly 500 pounds of material; 

 and collected many fine tektite specimens. Exchanges arranged dur- 

 ing the stay in Australia, and on the return trip through the Middle 

 East and Europe, added a number of fine new specimens to the collec- 

 tions. At the close of the year Dr. Henderson was back in Australia 

 on another prospecting trip. 



Dr. Henderson completed two manuscripts: one, a study of the 

 hexahedrite meteorite groups, and the other, a discussion of the legend- 

 ary and probably nonexistent Port Orford, Oreg., meteorite. He also 

 completed a metallographic study of the Bogou, Upper Volta, iron 

 meteorite. 



Analytical chemist Roy S. Clarke, Jr., in cooperation with R. J. 

 Gettens and E. W. FitzHugh of the Freer Gallery of Art, investigated 

 an iron-oxide cori'osion product of a metal blade in the Gallery's col- 

 lection and proved that it was fabricated from meteoritic iron. He 

 also completed chemical analysis of the mineral "phosphyllite" from 

 Bolivia. 



Silvio A. Bedini, curator of mechanical and civil engineering of the 

 Museum of History and Technology, toured teclmical museums and 

 other institutions of learning in Great Britain and on the continent, 

 presenting lectures at the Astrophysical Observatory in Arcetri and 

 at the Instituto Nazionale della Ottica in Florence. Later, in collab- 

 oration with Francis R. Maddison of the Museum of the History of 

 Science at Oxford University, he completed a book on the de Dondi 

 astrarium entitled "Mechanical Universe." Mr. Bedini completed 

 three more articles about antique science instruments in the national 

 collections; also articles on the invention of the orrery (including 

 study of an unrecorded instrument recently discovered in an Ameri- 

 can collection), on the evolution of science museums, and on early 



