Description of a portable Mineralogical. Laboratory. 243 
dulgence in experimental pursuits are limited, or who 
have neither leisure nor inclination to operate in the Jabo- 
ratory. The approbation which this portable collection of 
instruments has met with among the mineralogical public, 
and the sanction which I have received concerning it from 
different quarters, give me reason to believe it has proved 
useful ; indeed I feel no hesitation to say, that the assist- 
ance which this collection of instruments and tests is ca-. 
pable of rendering to those who are not without some 
tincture of science, may promote the diffusion of know- 
edge and accelerate the progress of the student. It may 
enable the young mineralogical chemist to acquire readilv 
such information concerning a mineral he may meet with 
in his travels, or elsewhere, as is sufficient to determine 
the uses to which the substance may be applied. And it is 
from a want of mineralogical inquiries, particularly anong 
men of landed property, that useful minerals have often 
been overlooked ; and many valuable products might pro- 
bably be discovered in situations where they are least ex- 
pected by landlord or tenant; because a general know- 
ledge of the composition of minerals (or, to speak more cor- 
recily, what a body contains, and not how much,)»s usually 
sufficient to direct their application to beneficial purposes. 
The Contents of the Mineralogical Laboratory are the 
following : 
CHEMICAL APPARATUS AND INSTRUMENTS. 
A lamp-furnace with Argand’s lamp. Fig. 1. 
A balance, so constructed as allows it to be used bydra- 
statically, with accurate sets of weights. Vig. 9. 
Crucibles ; of silver, porcelain biscuit, and black lead. Figs. 
S$. 3. 3.3. &c. 
Aspirit-lamp. Fig. 4, 
A magnetic needle and stand. Fig. 5. 
An assortment of flat-bottomed evaporating basons of 
porcelain biscuit *, 
A blow-pipe (Fig. 6.)—A blow-pipe forceps entirely made 
of platina, a blow-pipe spoon, and platina foil. 
Watch glasses in sizes for evaporating small quantities of 
fluids. 
A copper sand-bath to fit the Argand’s lamp, 
An apparatus for drying precipitates at certain temperatures, 
and also for evaporating fluids by steam. Fig. 7. 
* The articles named without a figure of reference, cannot be seen in 
the perspective drawing of the chest. 
O2 A hand 
