PRELIMINARY HANDBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY. 3 



To the Centennial Exhibition of 1870, the Tenth Census (1880), and 

 tbe various United States geological surveys and exploring expeditions 

 the department is largely indebted for whatever material it possessed 

 prior to 1882. The time since the death of Dr. Hawes and the organ- 

 ization of tbe three departments of mineralogy, metallurgy, and lithol- 

 ogy and physical geology from the one department of geology as it 

 then existed, and the very recent ^consolidation of the departments of 

 metallurgy? and lithology and physical geology into the one depart- 

 ment of geology has been too short lor the complete elaboration of the 

 plan here proposed.* 



In the division of the various collections comprised under the head of 

 geology in its broadest sense, as given below, regard has been had 

 mainly to convenience in administration and arrangement of material 

 in a manner most readily accessible for study and reference. We thus 

 have for our main divisions as below : 



Geolo^v .. .. * Plj y sical aml Chemical Geology. 



< Pahi'ontological Geology. 



These are then subdivided as below : 



f Department of Minerals, F. W. Clark, U. S. 



Physical and Chemical Geology.. . \ Geological Survey, Honorary Curator. 



| Department ot Geology, George P. Merrill, Cura- 

 l tor. 



Department of Tertiary and Recent Inverte- 

 brate Fossils, W. H. Dall, U. S. Geological 

 Survey, Honorary Curator. 



Department of Cretaceous Invertebrate Fossils, 

 C. A. White, U. S. Geological Survey, Hono- 

 rary Curator. 



Department of Paleozoic Invertebrate Fos- 

 sils, C. D. Walcott, U. S. Geological Survey, 

 Honorary Curator. 



Department of Vertebrate Fossils, Prof. O. C. 

 Marsh, New Haven, Connecticut, Honorary 

 Curator. 



Department of Fossil Plants, L. F. Ward, II. S. 

 Geological Survey, Honorary Curator. 



The palreontological section as given may strike one at first thought 

 as cut up unnecessarily, as cumbersome from the very multiplicity of 

 its divisions. Such an arrangement has at least the advantage that 

 each curator is afforded complete control of such material as he is es- 

 pecially interested in, and is not hampered with the care of a great 

 amount of other matter; whatever may be the effect of such diffuseness 

 upon the Museum as a place of exhibition, there can be little doubt re- 

 garding its benefits to the specialist. 



Of the seven divisions mentioned above this paper has to do only with 

 the second, that designated simply as the department of geology, and of 

 which the writer is at present acting as curator. 



In administering upon such a department one is at the very outset 



Paheontological Geology < 



*This change was effected in October, 1889. 



