36 RECORD OF DEEP WELL DRILLING FOR 11)04. [bull. 264. 
and then placed in the bags. With each sample is included a 2 by 3 
inch label, on which the following data are given by the driller: 
Sample number, location, name of owner, driller, and person sending 
sample, and the depth at which the sample was obtained. 
EXAMINATION AND FILING OF SAMPLES. 
Transfer to bottles. — When received at the office the samples are 
transferred to glass bottles. The bottles now in general use are 
approximately 2f inches long and three-fourths inch in diameter. 
Glass jars, measuring 3 by If inches, with a tin cover screwing on 
the top, were originally used, but they were found to be larger than 
necessary in most cases, although they are convenient where frag- 
ments are blown out in shooting or where fossils or pebbles are 
brought up. 
Acknowledgment of samples. — When the bags are opened the labels 
are examined and acknowledgment is made to the persons sending 
them. 
EXAMINATION OF SAMPLES AND FILING OF RECORDS. 
Whenever a set of samples from a particular well is complete it 
may be taken from the temporary files and referred to a geologist 
for examination and identification. The data thus obtained, together 
with those afforded by the drillers' notebook, are then compiled on 
cards. At the top of these cards are spaces for the names of State, 
county, and town in which the sample was obtained, for the names 
of the owner and driller of the well and of the person sending the I 
samples, and for the dates of opening and closing the account. Below 
this space for general information arc seven columns, which contain 
the following headings: "Date," "No.," "Character of strata," 
"From— ," "To—," "Drawer No.," "Date." If the record is long, 
supplementary cards are used. These are ruled as described above, 
but at the top there are spaces for only the names of the State, county, 
and town. 
Data of economic value are recorded on a separate card. Thcvari 
ous cards, together with clippings, notebooks, etc., relating to the 
same well are then fastened together by a clip and tiled by locality. 
STORAGE <)K SAMPLES. 
Importance of preservation of samples.— Mr. A. C. Veatch urged 
the general preservation of samples, as descriptions even by the best 
geologists are seldom as satisfactory as the samples themselves. Be- 
cause of advances in geologic science and of later and more precise 
data for discriminating the characters of underground beds, peculiar- 
ities which had been entirely overlooked or misinterpreted often be- 
come clear as a result of a later examination. Mai^ facts of value 
