Oct.  1898. 
Annual  Report  of  the  Director. 
283 
their  uses.  All  these  make  up  an  unusually  complete  and  instructive 
exhibit.  A  collection  illustrating  the  varieties,  origin,  and  composi- 
tion of  soils  has  also  been  prepared  and  installed  here,  the  material 
having  been  largely  gathered  by  the  Assistant  Curator.  This  was 
prepared  chiefly  in  response  to  requests  from  teachers  in  the  public 
schools  who  wished  to  use  it  for  purposes  of  instruction.  Other  col- 
lections shown  in  this  hall  illustrate  the  origin  and  methods  of  manu- 
facture of  mineral  paints,  of  varieties  of  sand  and  cement,  of  varieties 
of  pressed  brick,  and  of  varieties  of  brick  clays  and  fire  clays.  In 
Hall  No.  79  the  collection  of  zinc  ores  and  products  has  been  re- 
arranged to  include  the  material  obtained  by  the  Assistant  Curator  in 
Joplin  and  vicinity.  A  rearrangement  of  the  gold,  silver,  and  lead 
ores  is  now  in  progress  in  Hall  No.  72.  This  has  been  made  neces- 
sary in  order  to  provide  for  the  exhibition  of  a  large  amount  of  mate- 
rial now  in  storage,  and  to  improve  the  classification  of  the  collections. 
A  series  of  about  fifty  large  framed  photographs,  illustrating  the 
methods  of  mining  and  metallurgy  in  use  in  Ecuador  and  Chile,  has 
been  placed  upon  the  walls  in  this  hall.  The  phosphates  received 
from  the  Nashville  Exposition  have  been  installed  with  the  collection 
previously  exhibited  in  Hall  No.  78,  increasing  its  size  and  value. 
Halls  Nos.  74  and  75,  occupied  by  the  departmental  library  and  labor- 
atory, have  undergone  extensive  alterations  which  add  much  to  their 
appearance  and  increase  the  working  facilities  of  the  department. 
In  the  library  the  books  have  been  made  to  occupy  but  half  the 
space  they  formerly  filled.  The  area  so  gained  has  been  parti- 
tioned off  and  fitted  with  storage  trays  and  tables  for  the  use  of 
the  assistants  in  vertebrate  paleontology.  The  laboratory,  likewise, 
has  been  divided  by  a  partition  into  two  rooms,  one  of  which  con- 
tinues to  serve  as  the  laboratory.  It  has  been  provided  with  water 
and  air  baths,  sink  and  table,  and  is  piped  for  gas  and  water.  A 
Becker  chemical  balance,  sensitive  to  one-tenth  of  a  milligram, 
and  a  set  of  platinum  dishes  have  been  provided.  The  laboratory  is 
now,  therefore,  fairly  well  equipped  with  facilities  for  chemical  work 
which  have  long  been  needed,  and  it  is  hoped  in  the  coming  year  to 
carry  on  a  number  of  investigations  in  this  line.  The  three  Goyard 
assay  furnaces  which  were  formerly  kept  in  the  laboratory  have  been 
removed  to  the  boiler-house  and  set  up  in  a  room  specially  built 
for  the  purpose.  These  will  give  facilities  for  making  assays,  for 
which  there  is  frequent  demand.  The  transparencies,  enlarged  from 
cuts  in  De  Re  Metallica,  which  were  formerly  exhibited  in  the 
laboratory,  are  now  shown  in  classified  order  in  Halls  Nos.  72  and 
79.     In  the  Herbarium  of  the  Department  of  Botany  very  extensive 
