REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1914. 57 
MINERAL TECHNOLOGY. 
This division, the objects of which were partly incorporated in 
the classification of 1881, has been actively organized for scarcely 
more than a year, and owing to the complicated character of most of 
the proposed exhibits rapid progress in their preparation is not 
to be expected. For an explanation of these objects we can not do 
better than draw upon material contained in a recent report of its 
curator. Governmental organizations having already been estab- 
lished for investigating the latent mineral resources, increasing effi- 
ciency in their development, and the standardization of the products 
therefrom, the division should be excluded from activity in any of 
these directions. Again, in seeking new products or added refine- 
ments wherewith to cater to the ever-widening demands of society, 
manufacturing interests in the field of mineral technology have be- 
come awakened to the value of scientific research, no longer merely 
relying on the casual findings of disinterested investigators. Every 
important type of operation based on mineral research affords from 
one laboratory to many devoted to researches problems involved in 
widening the range of products, giving additional refinements to 
those already in use, and studying their behavior under specific 
conditions. As a result, new mineral derivatives, new uses of those 
already established, and newly determined facts concerning their 
adaptability are constantly accruing. For the dissemination of this 
mass of most important information the public is almost wholly de- 
pendent upon the industrial advertising manager, and however 
accurate may be the contributions from such sources, they are bound 
to fail in their broader educational value through the fact that the 
information does not emanate from a disinterested source. In its 
most purely technical aspect, therefore, the real opportunity of the 
division to be of service lies, not in the direction of abstract re- 
search, but in the exactly opposite one of rendering assistance toward 
keeping the public in touch with important current developments 
in mineral technology. 
The foregoing presents some of the purely utilitarian aspects in 
the range of opportunity open to the division. An equally important 
and more fundamental opportunity is offered along the more conven- 
tional lines of cultural information. By far the greater proportion 
of the economic minerals, in one form or another, have grown to be 
of importance in daily household life; but extension of information 
concerning them has not kept pace with extension in their use. 
Everyone is interested in knowing of the source and preparation of 
the materials in daily use, and by placing such information within 
the range of popular comprehension the Museum would be rendering 
a valuable service. 
