FLOOE.] 
MINERALS. 
35 
NOETH GALLEEY. 
MINERALS. 
The Table Cases containing the Minerals are numbered consecu- 
tively, with the exception of those in the fourth room. These numbers, 
commence at the east end of the gallery, pass along its south side 
through the Rooms 1. II. III., and, with a sHght interchange of posi- 
tion in the fourth room, return up the north side of the gallery, 
the sixtieth table facing that at which the numbers commence. The 
order of the numbers is intended to be a guide to the order of classifi- 
cation in which the Minerals are ultimately to be arranged. 
The following sketch of the Mineral series exhibited in the Museum 
will be found available during the progress of this arrangement. Each 
species is named in its place in the cases. 
Table Case 1a and part of 1, contain a series of masses of Meteoric 
Iron and of Meteoric Stones, which have either been seen to fall from 
the regions of space, or have been found under conditions which leave 
little room to doubt that their origin is foreign to our planet. 
The rest of Case 1, and Cases 2 and 3, are devoted to the 
Metallic Elements which occur in nature uncombined with other ele- 
ments, or only combined with one another in the form of alloys ; while 
in Case 4 are contained the indubitably ''non metallic'' Elements y^liich 
occur " native," such as Sulphur, Selenium, and Carbon. In these 
four Cases, then, will be seen arranged the varieties of native Gold, 
as it occurs disseminated through rocks in foil-like sheets, or found in 
the form of nuggets, of sand-like grains, of branch-formed lumps, and 
of crystals, and in various degrees of purity. The Californian, Sibe- 
rian, and Australian Gold-regions are represented here, and, in par- 
ticular, the produce of the Victorian gold district of Australia is 
exemplified in the Latrobe nugget, a mass of crystallised gold, of great 
purity and beauty, weighing nearly 24 ounces. 
Attached to the w^all are specimens of dendritic crystalline Silver, 
and, besides a fine collection of the forms of this metal, of Copper, and 
of other elements possessed of characteristic metallic properties, Tellu- 
riiwi and " metallic' arsenic are placed in Case 3, as substances which 
link the metallic elements to those more decidedly non-metallic in their 
properties. Sulphur and Selenium in mixture, and the former in a 
series of beautiful crystalline forms, follow, and half a Table Case is 
occupied by the element Carbon (which is chemically pure Charcoal), 
in its two [allotropic) mineral forms, Graphite and Diamond. Here, 
accordingly, will be found a large collection of crystals of the diamond, 
the hardest known substance, while models are shown of the most 
famous, for their size and history, of the specimens of this gem. 
Leaving the elementary forms of matter, the rest of the collection 
consists of Minerals made up of the elements in a state of chemical 
combination. 
