REPORT OF THE ASSISTANT IN CHARGE. 



James Hall, LL. D., Director of the Neiu York State Museum of 

 Natural History : 

 Sir. — I transmit Herewith my report as Assistant-in-charge of 

 the New York State Museum, for the year ending December 1, 



1889. 



Respectfully. 



JOHN C. SMOCK 



Albany, December 1, 1889. 



Current Work. 



The general care of the Museum, including the ordinary office 

 work with its correspondence, the preparation of the bulletin on 

 iron ores and the examination and selection of material for a 

 second bulletin on building stone in the State, have occupied the 

 larger part of my time. There is an increasing number of calls 

 and of requests by letter for information relative to minerals of 

 economic importance which may occur in the State. They are 

 time-consuming, as they require, in many cases, correspondence, 

 in order to get the requisite facts or careful examination of 

 reports, since it is impossible to acquire at once a personal 

 knowledge of all the localities of the occurrence of these mineral 

 staples in the State;. The value of the Museum to the people 

 and its return to them for their support of it, is felt to be so great 

 as to warrant the time thus given to all who come to it for help. 

 It is, in fact, a geological bureau, and is thus engaged in the 

 instruction of the people. 



Leave of absence was granted me for two months to visit the 

 glaciers of British Columbia and Alaska. Shortly after this action 

 by the Board of Eegents, I started, passing through Ottawa, in 

 Canada and availing myself of the advantages of seeing the 

 Museum of the Canadian Geological Survey, e)i route west. The 

 lUecellewaet glacier, near Glacier Sta., in British Columbia, was 

 visited first. An attempt was made to explore the glaciers on 



