58 Report of the President 



a separate hall, and would be a disfiguring intrusion in the 

 purely mineralogical series, it might be united eventually with 

 the latter, in an ancillary manner, in a system of mineralogical 

 exposition, which would contain the ores of the metals, the 

 salts, clays, coals, cements, asphalts, graphites, abrasives, 

 asbestos, sands and the building stones. A reciprocal refer- 

 ence of one to the other, under some favorable plan of instal- 

 lation, might be instituted, wherein both remained separate 

 but coordinated. 



The intention authoritatively expressed to make of the 

 Gem Collection a fitting memorial to its generous donor, 

 Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, suggests obviously the 

 Collection cnan g es in the present Gem Room — or their incor- 

 poration in some other and later apartment — which 

 would make of it an appropriate monument. The color treat- 

 ment of the walls in stone-veneering, the introduction of elec- 

 trical chandeliers (electroliers) of conspicuous dignity in design 

 and material, a change in the present useful but inelegant box 

 cases, a mosaic floor tile of warm colors, and a broad or bold 

 marqueterie would impart a congruous splendor to the remark- 

 able and brilliant collection and immensely enhance its impres- 

 siveness. 



In respect to the future growth or development of the Gem 

 Collection — always maintained as a Morgan Memorial — it is 

 compellingly clear that purely mineralogical specimens, other 

 than those appertaining to gem values, should be rigorously 

 excluded from its walls, while the introduction of peculiar or 

 notable examples of jewelry — usually or preferably ethnic — 

 such as may be seen in the collections at the Field Museum, 

 would prove enormously attractive. The bizarre and almost 

 barbaric types of the ornamental uses of gold, silver and pre- 

 cious stones, in jewelry, as exemplified in the Egyptian, Algerian, 

 Turkish, Etruscan, Persian and Indian examples, possess an 

 indisputable fascination. It would be a really superb accom- 

 paniment — this subordinated display of technical invention and 

 national taste in connection too with chronological succession — 

 to the Gem Collection itself, and it would be difficult to over- 

 estimate its artistic influence, or to overvalue the unique charm 



