REPORT ON THE DIVISION OF MINERAL TECHNOLOGY, 

 By Chester G. Gilbert, Honorary Associate Curator. 



The year proved a signally unfortunate one for the division of 

 mineral technology. At the very outset Mr. Mitman, assistant 

 curator in charge of the metallic section, was transferred to the 

 division of mechanical technology which offered opportunity for 

 his well deserved advancement to the rank of curator, and where, at 

 the time, it seemed his training and experience were more urgently 

 needed. Before a month had passed it became evident that this was 

 not to be the only loss in personnel and organization in store for the 

 division; and with the ending of the second month Doctor Pogue, 

 associate curator in charge of the nonmetallic section, resigned to 

 head the economic department of the Sinclair Consolidated Oil Cor- 

 poration. Shortly afterward Mr. Gilbert, the curator of the divi- 

 sion, himself resigned to open an office in Washington as resident 

 manager and consulting engineer for Arthur D. Little, Incorporated, 

 taking with him as his secretary Mrs. Galloway from her earlier 

 connection with the division. As associate curator on an honorary 

 basis Mr. Gilbert continued in advisory supervision over what from 

 the beginning of 1913 was developed under his direction; but under 

 the salary handicap responsible for the loss of personnel, all effort 

 to reconstitute a competent working organization proved unavailing, 

 and at this writing the offices assigned to mineral technology are still 

 unoccupied. 



Lacking in organization the division of mineral technology was 

 as signally lacking in achievement during the year. Under the 

 fairly normal conditions prevailing two years back, thirty-three ac- 

 cessions were assembled, and even the following year of the war the 

 number kept up to five. Last year the number dropped to one. To 

 this, a working model of a salt works, however, should be added 

 another exhibit comprising a series of transparencies and type speci- 

 mens which, though pertaining to an earlier accession and entered 

 as such, figure in the year's expansion. 



The model was donated by the Worcester Salt Company, of New 

 York City, and is a replica of that company's highly developed 

 operations near Warsaw, in New York State. It is a working model 

 in the truest sense. Everything works and everybody as well. With 

 ingenuity quite equally remarkable in the actual operations and in 



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