REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MINERALS IN THE U. S. NATIONAL 



MUSEUM, 1885. 



By F. W. Clarke, Honorary Curator. 



The growth of the Department of Minerals bas not been so rapid, 

 during the past six months, as during the year before, when the prep- 

 arations for the New Orleans Exposition caused such an unusual amount 

 of activity in the accumulation of material. We have, however, re- 

 ceived several donations from various friends of the Museum, the most 

 important being a lot of thirty-five specimens of wavellite, quartz and 

 arkansite from the vicinity of Hot Springs, Ark., the gift of Mr. Charles 

 F. Brown of Hot Springs, and a small lot of minerals from Mr. Fred. 

 C. Green of Milwaukee, Wis., among which were two fiue specimens of 

 millerite with calcite from a cement quarry at Milwaukee. The additions 

 accruing from our exchanges have been much greater. From this source 

 we- have received 591 specimens, as follows : — 



From the University of Cincinnati, 100 specimens, representing vari- 

 ous localities in Austria, Hungary, Prussia and other European coun- 

 tries ; from Prof. Charles U. Shepard of New Haven, Conn., a collection 

 of 391 specimens, from various American localities, the greater num- 

 ber being material for replenishing our duplicate series; from Mr. N. H. 

 Perry, of South Paris, Me., 61 specimens of green and pink tourmaline, 

 lepidolite triplite and massive topaz, principally from the Stoneham and 

 Auburn localities ; from Dr. L. W. Bailey, of Fredericton, New Bruns- 

 wick, 38 specimens of native antimony, stibnite, manganite, stilbite, 

 pyroxene etc., from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and other provinces 

 of Canada ; and from Mr. C. M. Yeates, of this city, a handsome speci- 

 men of ruby corundum, from Clay County, North Carolina. Only one 

 addition has been made to the collection of Meteorites during the past 

 six months, namely, a clipping from a meteoric iron from Santa Eosa, 

 Coahuila, Mexico, recently described by Prof. N. P. Lupton of Yander- 

 bilt University, in the American Journal of Science, and by him given 

 to the Museum. We have under consideration several exchanges, which 

 will enlarge the Meteorite collection, in the near future. 



A glance at the character of the work done in this department may 

 not be uninteresting. A specimen coming into the department is first 

 carefully examined, to see whether it is worthy of a place in the collec- 



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