REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF METALLURGY AND ECONOMIC 

 GEOLOGY IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1885. 



By F. P. Dewey, Curator. 



Of the thirty-four accessions received during the first half of 1885 

 only four are worthy of special mention. 



These are: A large series of 32 specimens to represent the operation of 

 the Ziervogel process for the treatment of argentiferous copper ores as 

 practiced at the Boston and Colorado Works at Argo, Colo., presented 

 by Hon. N. P. Hill (Ace. 1C1S9); closely connected with this collection 

 is an exceedingly interesting collection of alloys of gold and bismuth, 

 prepared by Mr. Richard Pearce at the same works (Ace. 10184) ; a col- 

 lection to illustrate the smelting of the oxidized ores of copper of 

 Arizona, presented by the Copper Queen Company (Ace. 15603), this 

 collection was solicited for the New Orleans Exposition, but did not 

 arrive in time to be utilized there ; a very interesting collection of apa- 

 tite, used in the manufacture of fertilizers, from many prominent locali- 

 ties, presented by Pickford and Winkfield (Ace. 16028). 



At the opening of the year the curator was still detained at New Or- 

 leans arranging the collection of the department there, and did not re- 

 turn to Washington until the middle of January. This work at New 

 Orleans should not have consumed more than ten days, but owing to 

 the unfavorable conditions there, it required nearly thirty days to com- 

 plete it. 



The design of the collections of this department was to show, as far 

 as the time and means at disposal would permit, the prominent occur- 

 rences of each metal, the methods of extracting the metals from their 

 ores, and the utilization of the metal. To these were added a few illus- 

 trations of non metallic ores and their utilization, including a very ex- 

 tensive and valuable illustration of the coal industry. 



Most of the ore material was selected from the Museum collections, 

 and only a very few new collections were made. The new collections, 

 however, were taken upon a systematic plan to represent the mine as a 

 unit rather than to gather a few specimens selected at random, as is the 

 usual case with such collections. In following the plan, specimens were 

 taken to represent sections across and up and down the vein, and an 

 average of the product of the vein, while to these were added the wall 



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