Report of the President 59 



departure is a distinct loss to the work of the department and 

 the Museum. While with the department, his principal task 

 was the preparation, under the direction of Dr. James Douglas 

 and the Curator, of the models illustrating the Copper Queen 

 Mine at Bisbee, Arizona. 



MINERALS 

 DEPARTMENT OF MINERALOGY 



L. P. Gratacap, Curator 



The important acquisitions in the Department of Miner- 

 alogy have not been limited to very striking or scenic 



specimens. The opportunities of obtaining such 

 Accessions 



specimens do not occur as frequently as they 



once did, and, in the case of phenomenal mineralogical devel- 

 opments, the prices now attain almost prohibitive limits. The 

 more rare, the new and the obscure species of minerals are not 

 usually conspicuous for beauty, but their acquisition is always 

 desirable. The Bruce Fund and money provided in a general 

 appropriation, however, have enabled the department to secure 

 100 admirable specimens, and these additions, with gifts and 

 exchanges, bring the contents of the collection up to nearly 

 19,000 specimens, a really impressive total. 



Among the additions, a series of minerals from Greenland 

 and Iceland; some interesting European material, obtained by 

 exchange with Professor W. Vernadsky of Petrograd; native 

 Bismuth from Australia, Gold specimens of various provenance, 

 Zeolites from New Jersey, Dioptase from southwestern Africa, 

 crystallized Cuprodescloizite and Azurite from Bisbee, Ari- 

 zona, Pyroxmangite from North Carolina, Aurichalcite from 

 New Mexico, Betafite and Vesuvianite (Wiluite) are perhaps 

 preeminent, though this selection does not do justice to the 

 variety and number of the other accessions. Mr. P. J. 

 Oettinger, a retired mining engineer, presented to the depart- 

 ment his collection of ores, consisting of 1,363 specimens, 

 largely Mexican in origin. Such a collection might form 

 eventually the nucleus of an economic cabinet illustrating ore 

 bodies and ore occurrences. 



