258 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1884. 



ceedingly fragmentary and consisted for the most part of highly wrought 

 specimens, showing more particularly what can be done by suitable 

 treatment of the material rather than what is accomplished in the every- 

 day run of the works, and contained but few illustrations of the regular 

 course of operations. This material therefore requires to be supple- 

 mented very extensively in order to form anything like a complete illus- 

 tration. In the new collections the manufacture of Bessemer steel is most 

 fully illustrated by a series of nearly 100 specimens collected by Messrs. 

 Kirby and Zukoski at the South Chicago Rolling Mill. This collectiou 

 begins with the smelting of the pig-iron, shows various ores, fuels, and 

 fluxes used, and the pig-irons and slag produced. Then, beginning 

 with the blow No. 13,391 in the converting department, specimens of 

 all the material entering into the blow were taken and also samples of 

 the metal taken at various times during the conversion and a sample 

 of the finished steel rail. To these are added samples of the various 

 refractory materials used, together with a large number of by-products 

 produced, some of which, however, find application. This collectiou is 

 an exceedingly valuable one and will add very greatly to our previous 

 collections in this line. 



The process of the manufacture of crucible steel is one but little 

 known to those not directly interested in it, and it is not very easy to 

 gather any specimens of the operation of the process, to say nothing of 

 getting a complete series. Most manufacturers have what they con- 

 sider exceedingly valuable secrets in this process and are very reluctant 

 to give any information whatever in regard to their works. A very 

 complete and interesting collection, however, was presented by Messrs. 

 Miller, Metcalf & Parkin, of the Crescent Steel Works, Pittsburgh, 

 Pa. 



Iron being the most important metal that we have, its metallurgy is 

 the most full and complete, and it is a subject that the Museum should 

 illustrate fully. At the same time the industry is scattered over such 

 a wide area that it will require a considerable time to work it up fully 

 and completely. But it is hoped that several collections which were prom- 

 ised for the New Orleans Exposition will yet be received and that we 

 shall soon have a tolerably fair illustration of the subject. 



Zinc. — A very large collection of blende, much of it crystallized, from 

 Missouri, was made by Messrs. Kirby and Gazzam. The particular mines 

 to be mentioned are Cowen & Bliss, at Lehigh, Mo., and Spencer & Mc- 

 Coney, Carterville, Mo. Two collections of silicate and carbonate ores 

 from Virginia and Tennessee were obtained : one, representing the very 

 remarkable deposit of the Bertha Zinc Company, in Pulaski County, 

 Virginia, was presented by Mr. Thomas Jones ; the other, representing 

 the deposit at Mossy Creek, Tennessee, was presented by Mr. T. H. 

 Heald, Knoxville, Tenn. 



The collections representing the smelting of zinc or spelter from the 

 sulphide ores of Missouri and Kansas are very complete, having been 



