248 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1884. 



information it is possible to get in the way of statistics, plans, draw- 

 ings, and views of the mines and works. Aside from the value of such 

 systematic collections in metallurgy, they open up a wide field for re- 

 search in the laboratory, and will therefore form the basis for future 

 work in that direction. The complete examination of the material 

 already received will add largely to the stock of information in regard 

 to the science of metallurgy. Metallurgy being essentially an economic 

 science, most of the writings on the subject have been confined to the 

 one question of carrying on the operations at a profit, leaving the con- 

 sideration of the whys and wherefores and the scientific principles in- 

 volved almost entirely out of the question. This lack of information in 

 regard to the science of metallurgy is very unfortunate, and it is the 

 desire of the curator to so arrange the proper work of the department, 

 in preparing material for exhibition, as to add as much as possible to the 

 stock of scientific information. 



The collections sent to the Few Orleans Exposition could not pos- 

 sibly be made to cover the whole ground. In fact, the work is mainly 

 preliminary, but it is hoped that the results obtaihed will be of suffi- 

 cient value to warrant an extension of the number of such illustrations, 

 so that some system of collecting material of this kind will be inaugu- 

 rated which will add largely to the material on hand, and in time build 

 up the collections in metallurgy so that they will compare favorably with 

 those at present in the Museum in the line of economic geology. 



The principal drawbacks to the collecting for Kew Orleans were the 

 shortness of time and the small amount of money available for the 

 work. Most of the systematic collections were made either by the 

 curator in person or else by the young men already referred to — recent 

 graduates of technical schools — who were verj' willing to give their time 

 to the work in consideration of the benefit it would be to them to visit 

 mines and metallurgical works under the auspices of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, in order to increase their stock of information, the only cost 

 to the Museum being their actnal expenses while making the collec- 

 tions. 



In order to illustrate more fully the scope and design of these col- 

 lections it seems desirable to describe briefly the collections as made, 

 with special reference to the material already in the Museum and also 

 to what it would be desirable to collect in the future. 



Oold. — Gold being a metal of so much intrinsic value, the collections 

 already in the Museum were not at all complete, and it is the only in- 

 stance in which it was thought desirable to make any separate attempt 

 to collect the ores. In this connection a series of 87 specimens was pur- 

 chased, representing the occurrence of placer gold in Virginia, North 

 Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, iMou- 

 tana, Utah, Oregon, California, and Alaska. Some of these specimens 

 were collected as long ago as 1848, and in some cases are the first dis- 

 covered in the region. In the case of California there is a specimen con- 



