42 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



III. — THE SYSTEMATIC SERIES OF ORES AND USEFUL MINERAL 



SUBSTANCES. 



This series deals with the same class of materials as are comprised in 

 the geographic series, but differs in the method of arrangement, and 

 further in that it is not limited to localities in the United States. Much 

 of the material here shown is naturally duplicated in the geographic 

 series, but owing to its grouping it conveys quite a different lesson. 

 As an illustration of this, attention may be called to the collection of 

 nickel ores. In the geographic series, ores of nickel as they occur in 

 the United States are shown in the State exhibits of Massachusetts, 

 Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, and Alaska. 

 In the systematic series these same ores are shown, but grouped to- 

 gether in such a way as to be readily compared with one another, and 

 also with others from it may be worldwide sources, as for instance 

 Canada, Sweden, Norway, Prussia, and New Caledonia. 



This series further differs from the first mentioned in that with each 

 of the principal metals the ores are supplemented by collections illus- 

 trating its method of extraction and the various by-products involved. 



This collection, comprising now some 4,000 specimens, was inaugu- 

 rated under the direction of Mr. F. P. Dewey, formerly curator of 

 metallurgy, and has been described by him in a handbook entitled 

 "Preliminary Descriptive Catalogue of the Systematic Collections in 

 Economic Geology and Metallurgy/' This will appear in Part II of the 

 Smithsonian Report for 1889-'90. 



While the arrangement of cases adopted by Mr. Dewey has been 

 completely changed and much new material added, particularly from 

 foreign sources, l still the general scheme at time of writing is practi- 

 cally the same, and may be briefly outlined as follows : 



In the case of each metal the series begins with an exhibit of the 

 principal minerals of which that metal forms a part. The specimens 

 were selected to show so far as possible each mineral in its perfection 

 The next step is a series of ores selected to show the material and its 

 associated minerals as actually mined. Following these is a third series, 

 showing the various stages in the processes of concentration, when 

 practiced; and finally a fourth series, representing the processes of ex- 

 tracting the metals from the ores and converting them into useful forms. 

 These collections include the ores, fuels, fluxes, and all other materials 

 entering into the operation, and samples of the final as well as the 

 numerous waste and by-products. In this manner are exhibited the 

 metallic ores of gold, silver, copper, iron and steel, cobalt, nickel, zinc, 

 lead, tin, mercury, and aluminum, while many of the more rare or less 

 important are exhibited in specimens only, as is the case with manga- 

 nese, chromium, antimony, and bismuth. A fine series of alloys is also 

 exhibited under this head. 



Mr. Dewey had limited the collection wholly to minerals from the United States, 



