146 ACCOUNTS, ETC., OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 



Department of Mineralogy. 



The Staff and its Duties. 



The staff of the Mineral Department consists of the Keeper, 

 three Assistants, four Attendants and one Boy- Attendant. 

 The duties are generally distributed as follows : — 



Three Assista.nts. — To one is assigned most of the physical 

 and executive work relating to the collection of miineral 

 82:)ecies ; this includes the preliminary examination of speci- 

 mens submitted for purchase or exchange, the registration 

 and incorporation of those recently acquired, the determina- 

 tion of the physical and geometrical characters, and the 

 preparation of species-, variety-, and locality-labels. 



To a second is assigned similar work relative to the speci- 

 mens of rocks. 



To the third is assigned the chemical analysis of both 

 minerals and rocks. 



Though a mineralogist can no longer satisfactorily attempt 

 to keep abreast of scientific knowledge and undertake original 

 research in more than one of the three main branches of the 

 subject (physical, petrological, and chemical), such a sharp 

 limitation of the work of the assistants would be contrary to 

 the interests of the Museum ; hence, as far as possible, it is 

 ai-ranged that each assistant has the opportunity of acquiring 

 a general knowledge of the specimens preserved in the 

 department, and of thus becoming more useful than he other- 

 wise would* be during the absence of his colleagues. 



Four Attendants. — One is specially employed in the prepara- 

 tion of thin sections of minerals and rocks for examination 

 with the microscope ; a second is charged with the arrange- 

 ment and cataloguing of the departmental library ; the 

 two others with the more mechanical work of the chemical 

 laboratory, the packing and unpacking of specimens, copying, 

 &;c. 



One Boy- Attendant. — The boy-attendant is charged with 

 the sale of the departmental guides, attends on the suj)erior 

 officials as required, and does a large part of the simpler 

 mechanical work, such as the filling of trays with cotton- 

 wool. 



The general duties of dusting the cases, assisting in the 

 Gallery, &c., are also performed by the attendants and boy- 

 attendant. 



General. 



Quantitative analyses of two new Brazilian minerals, dis- 

 covered and presented by Dr. E. Hussak — namely. Lewisite, 

 a titano-antimonate of calcium and iron, and Zirkelite, a 

 titano-zirconate of calcium — have been completed, and the 

 results have been published ; a quantitative analysis has also 



been 



