It is impossible to notice each of 

 our 83 exchanges; editors will please 

 accept thanks for same. 



Editors are respectfully invited 

 to exchange. We would ask publish- 

 ers, authors and societies to send in 

 their publications, especially those 

 relating to Natural History. 

 -*-•-*- 



|fiieipife§y ill |jjiik|j e 



On the Care of Minerals. 



W. S. BEEKMAN. 



Much has been suggested 

 as to the proper care of mineral 

 specimens, and it seems quite out of 

 the place to say more on this subject, 

 but it seems to me that if the atten- 

 tion of amateurs had been called 

 through the means of such a valua- 

 ble medium as The Ornithologist 

 is at present, I could not have visited 

 over twenty good collections, and 

 found certain specimens, as I did, 

 in such shabby form. 



Therefore, asking those that al- 

 ready are familiar with the follow- 

 ing suggestions to bear with me, I 

 propose to give, under three head- 

 ings, a series of valuable hints to 

 the uninitiated, which I hope will 

 be further extended by each indivi- 

 dual worker, as this is, at best, 

 only a hasty outline. When this 

 paper has had the liberal support 

 from every collector in this country, 

 as it should have, perhaps the editor 

 can afford to illustrate, then will be 

 a ffood chance for sup^estions as to 

 the neatest style of a cabinet, with 

 diagrams. 



Collectors doing any sort of an 

 exchange business, or perhaps field- 

 wor/c {they are to be envied, rather 

 than those that have finer collections 

 made by purchasing,) will perhaps 

 become cramped for room in which 



to store their fast accumulating 

 duplicates; may find a neat, and 

 inexpensive method of storing in 

 the following manner, which by far 

 excels any shelf arrangement 

 possible. 



Procure from your wholesale 

 grocer a dozen, or so, large flat 

 wooden boxes. I prefer the long, 

 narrow soap-boxes. Have them 

 securely nailed, with the cover on, 

 and then cut in two, so that one box 

 makes two trays. Plain off the top 

 edges, and pile them one on another. 

 Thus from the dozen boxes you have 

 twenty-four nice, neat trays, that 

 can be piled in one column, and 

 will contain just a convenient num- 

 ber of specimens to exhibit at one 

 time, and all but the top one is 

 naturally protected from the dust, 

 and that one may be covered, as one 

 chooses. Next to the receptacle 

 pomes the form in which the speci- 

 mens should be kept. For good 

 work one should have a regular 12 

 inch handle, stone hammer, and a 

 fine jewellers hammer for delicate 

 specimens. A cold steel chisel, and 

 a small one such as used in repousse 

 work will be found useful. There 

 is no necessity for one to have a 

 pound of rock on a specimen, where 

 it can be reduced to two ounces. 

 Again, it is hardly Avise to reduce a 

 specimen that is finely crystallized, 

 merely to decrease the size, thereby 

 lowering its value. Judgement in 

 all cases is required. There is less 

 danger of crushing a rock if it is 

 held firmly in the hand, than by 

 pounding on a hard surface, a»d 

 where practical is to be prefered. 

 Minerals that cleave readily are best 

 improved by pounding on the sides, 

 rather than on the faces. Blocks of 

 feld-spar, may by careful pounding- 

 be reduced to thin plates, taking 

 the precaution to pound alternately 

 on the four sides. Where, by a 

 blow on the surface, as I have re- 

 peatedly seen done, the specimen is 



