82 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



uearly 1,000 new labels lias been written. The systematic collection of 

 rocks has been entirely rearranged, and the labels of the building stone 

 collection renewed. A large quantity of duplicate material has been 

 sorted out to be used in making up the next sets of speciujens for dis- 

 tribution. The curator has, in addition to the large amount of routine 

 work accomplished, found time to bring to com j)letion his investigation 

 relating to the mineral nature and cause of flbrous structnre of the 

 various minerals commercially groul^ed under the name " Asbestos." 

 lie is also engaged in a series of investigations relative to the phenom- 

 ena attending rock decomposition. A brief paper on this subject, as 

 illustrated in the region about Washington, has been published during 

 the year in the Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. The 

 title of this and live other papers by the curator, and of one by Mr. 

 C. Whitman Cross on "The Laccolitic Mountain Groups of Colorado, 

 Utah and Aiizona", in which are described some rocks in the Museum 

 collection, will be found in the Bibliography (Appendix iV). 



The accessions of the year numbered 79, and in addition 122 lots of 

 specimens were received for examination and report. The most impor- 

 tant of the former are: A systematic series of Stassfurt salts, pre- 

 sented by the German Kali Works (Nassau street, New York City); 

 a series of specimens of i^hotographs of borax salts, mines, and 

 works, presented by the Pacific Borax Company (San Francisco, Cal.); 

 a series of granites, marbles, alabaster, etc., from Egypt, collected for 

 the Museum by Mr. F. W. Crosby ; a large quantity of ITintahite, from 

 Clear Creek, Utah, received from Mr. B. W. Rice, Tucker, Utah; a 

 block of meerschaum from Eski Shehr, Asia Minor; a series of soap- 

 stone, asbestos, ai)atite,and fresh and decomposed rocks illustrating 

 weathering, collected by the curator in Nelson and Albemarle counties, 

 Va.; onyx from Lake Oroomah, Persia, presented by Rev. S. G. Wil- 

 son, Tabriz, Persia; a series of remarkable spherulites from the Silver 

 Cliff region, Colorado, presented by Mr. C. Whitman Cross; a series 

 of silverores from Custer County, Colo., transmitted by the U. S. Geolog- 

 ical Survey, and a large nodiile of gum copal, weighing 8^ pounds, 

 fi'om the Upper Congo region in Africa, obtained by Mr. J. H. Camp, 

 Lima, Ohio, who collected for t?he Museum while engaged as a missionary 

 in the service of the American BapHst Missionary Union. 



The present condition of the collection is indicated by the following 

 figures : 



Exhibition series 22, 435 



Study series 28, 411 



Microscopic slides 4, 000 



Duplicates of all kinds 12,000 



Total 66, 846 



The last catalogue entry in June, 1894, was 02393 and in June, 1895, 

 62731. It should be remarked in this connection that an entry in the 

 catalogue does not by any means necessarily indicate the addition of 



