^ IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
I know of no branch of science in which a single term of well directed 
effort will result in more practical good both in training and knowdedge 
than from the determination of minerals from a consideration of their 
external qualities mainly. Along with and included in this should go, 
of course, the recognition of the mineral constituents of the granites 
and other common rocks. Thereafter, with a well trained muscular sense 
in judging of weight and with no more apparatus than a knife-blade 
and a piece of glass for testing hardness, one, while in the field, may 
recognize with a fair degree of certainty a large percent of the minerals 
and rocks studied. Later with recourse to a bottle of acid for testing 
carbonates, a small magnet, an inexpensive balance for a more exact 
determination of specific gravity and a simple blow-pipe, all doubt may 
be removed respecting any of those that had been identified only tenta- 
tively and the most, if not all, of those too difficult for recognition in the 
field may thus be determined with assurance. The Mineralogy of today is 
established upon a well defined basis, occupies an important place among 
kindred sciences and should receive at the hands of educators a mor« 
universal recognition in the courses of secondary schools and colleges. 
