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Geology can have only a meagre representation in the National Museum until another building is provided. Immense stores of specimens of rocks, drawings of sections to illustrate dynamic geology, denudation, etc., are in reserve, besides thousands of fossils.
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Few objects of interest are as yet exhibited. The pictures of scenery and
structure near the Grand Canyon of the Rio Colorado, made for the U. S.
Geological Survey by W. H. Holmes; models of that profound gorge; of the
Yellowstone National Park, of the bristling peaks of the Sierra San Juan
(recalling the dolomite district of the Alps), of Vesuvius with its lava
channels, and others, will attract attention.
A few of what may be called the curiosities of geology, however, must not be overlooked, first of all the column and sparkling stalagmites and stalactites from the cavern of Luray, the most interesting of all American caves, although of less size than the Mammoth.
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The Luray caverns are in Page county, Virginia, and easily accessible from Washington, since they lie directly upon the line of the Shenandoah Valley railway. They were discovered in 1870 and soon opened to the public by an enterprising company of owners who built an exceedingly comfortable hotel, the Luray Inn, established a regular hack service, and lighted the caves by electricity These caves are of vast extent and some of the chambers are of great size. They are characterized by the great abundance of stalactites and stalagmites, by the variety and beauty of form these assume and their richness of color. A complete description of the caverns forms chapter xix of Ernest Ingersoll's "Country Cousins" (Harper & Brothers 1884). Nowhere can the study of cave- geology be better prosecuted. The geyserite deposited by the mineral waters of the geysers in the Yellowstone National Park give a hint of those brilliant colors, which are thought so greatly exaggerated in pictures of that marvelous region; and the suspended bars of "flexible sandstone," show a remarkable exception to the customary rigidity of rock.
The flexibility of this stone, which occurs in North Carolina, is due to the circumstance that its grains are extremely irregular in surface and shape, and have scattered among them particles of mica. Their roughness and angularity permit a certain amount of play. The bending, therefore, is not elasticity, but due to looseness in the composition of the rock, and cannot be carried beyond a certain limit, when it comes to a sudden stop.
Much geological material in the Museum falls properly into some of the succeeding departments, and will be found mentioned in its proper place, an observation which might be repeated for each and every department, since in different aspects the same object will generally illustrate several phases of the exhibition scheme.
The department of Minerals is one of restricted definition here, since from it has been separated everything geological or metallurgical, Several hundred specimens of minerals, American and foreign, have been placed ready for exhibition in the drawers of tablecases, where they can be inspected by specialists. There is also beautifully exhibited under glass a loaned collection of minerals of the United States, the property of Mr. Joseph Wilcox, of Delaware Co., Penn. A collection of gems illustrates every commercial gem known. Two other objects of special interest here are the Tucson and Couch's meteorites, together with many smaller ones.
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"This meteorite, weighing 400 pounds, was first discovered in Sonora, Mexico, by Jesuit missionaries by whom it was considered a great curiosity, exciting much speculation as to its origin. In 1735 the 'Gran Capitan de las Provincias del Occidente,' Don Juan Baptists Anza, was induced to visit the meteorite, and found it at a place called 'Los Muchachos,' in the Sierra Madre, and struck with its appearance undertook to transport it to San Blas, then the nearest point of entry, with the view of carrying it to Spain. With this object it was brought as far as the Presidio, near Tucson, in Arizona, where it was left on account of the difficulty in carrying it further. It was then taken into the town of Tucson, set up vertically, and used as a kind of anvil. In 1857 Dr. B. J. D. Irwin found this meteorite lying in one of the streets of the village, half buried in the earth. As no one claimed it, he publicly announced his intention to take possession of it and forward it to the Smithsonian Institution. . . . The meteorite is in the shape of an immense signet ring, much heavier on one side, where it is nearly flat on its outer surface, and presents the face used as an anvil, The weight is 1,400 pounds. Its composition is principally of iron. The Couch meteorite was brought from Saltillo by Lieutenant, now General, Darius N. Couch, of the United States army. It was said to have come from the Sancha estate, about fifty miles from Santa Rosa, in the north of Coahuila. This meteorite, when discovered, was also in use as an anvil."
Chemistry takes little part in the exhibition on the Museum floor, and the time of the curator is employed in the solution of questions in chemistry and economic geology proposed by this and other departments of the government. It therefore contributes very essentially to the accuracy and progress of the Museum not only, but to the effective work of all branches of the government service in which scientific knowledge is involved. This department is furnished with complete apparatus, a feature of peculiar interest being the fine stock of platinum dishes and crucibles, the great cost of which prevents their possession by the majority of laboratories.
There is on exhibition, however, a valuable series of specimens, contributed by Schieffelin of New York, and other druggists, illustrating chemical technology, which were brought together by Mr. R. Hitchcock. These consist of the elements, and the three classes of compounds, viz.: acids, alkalies and salts. They fill a large number of jars. Another interesting exhibit here is the apparatus of Joseph Priestley.
It is in this department that geology and rocks are exhibited in the shape of stones used in building, by sculptors, &c. This unsurpassed collection is a monument to that earnest student, the late Dr. G. W. Hawes, its projector, who, as special agent of the Tenth Census, collected specimens from nearly every quarry in the United States.
Every specimen on arrival, after being catalogued, was placed in the hands of stonecutters who dressed them into four-inch cubes, the different faces of the cubes being finished as follows: Polished in front, drafted and pointed on the left side; drafted rock face upon the right side; rock face behind, and smooth-sanded or chiseled upon the top and bottom. This preparation was modified to suit individual cases; for example, sandstones which do not polish, had the front face simply rubbed smooth. The specimens thus prepared were placed in suitable exhibition cases and properly labeled, where they might be examined by all who wished.
"A visitor at once sees how any stone 'works.' If he is a builder of
houses, a contractor who undertakes work to cost a million, or his workman,
a certain quota of positive information is received. He who pays money,
and is to receive it- both are taught. But this lot of stone is just on the
commencement of in investigations. Fragments of it have been subjected to
chemical analysis, and its exact chemical constituents are learned. The geologist
has studied it. Then the microscopist has put it under his lens and has
found out its structure. Finally, it has been subjected to the mechanician,
who tried its strength and learned how much strain it would stand. Now we
begin to appreciate how thorough and exhaustive is the method to which this
specimen has been subjected. The visitor knows from the label, if he can
read, locality, composition and absolute value.
These tests are not carried on at the Museum. The preparation of microscopic
slides, however, is a part of the curator's work, and great numbers of extremely
thin and transparent sections have been ground down in his laboratory and
properly mounted for study. There is little in this exhibit which does not
explain itself. Besides our American building stones, a large number of
They have been obtained from the most celebrated quarries in this country
and Europe, and were collected by Mr. Mitchell at the special request of
the Museum authorities, who appreciate the important relation of the grindstone
to nearly all the arts and trades.
This collection will be added to until every grindstone quarry in the world
is represented. The establishment, from which these came, was founded by
James Mitchell, in 1810, and is the oldest in this country. Mr. Mitchell
exhibited at the Centennial, in 1876, a doric column of grindstone about
30 feet high by 3 feet thick, which comprised 58 specimens of grindstone
from all parts of the world.
"In the whole range of mechanics, with all modern developments and
enlarged capabilities, there has been applied no mechanism nor process yet
able to supersede the grindstone in its peculiar office. It is the one thing
in mechanic arts that improvement has not added to, or invention displaced;
while the pruning hook and plough are of equal antiquity, the spirit of
improvement has touched both but left the grindstone unchanged. Its utility
in the early ages was great, and science has not lessened its value any
by its perfection of other means for like results. It has been found in
use among uncivilized people, and yet has its place with nations most advanced."
Into this section go all the ores, metals and objects illustrating mineral
resources, mining, metallurgy and metallic products.
Most of the materials now shown are so well labelled that it would be superfluous
to speak of them in particular. Of the ores and preparations of iron there
is a very large display, including a specimen of terrestrial native iron
brought from Ovifak, Disco island, Greenland, by Prof. A. E. Nordenskjold,
the famous navigator of the Vega through the northeastern Arctic ocean.
Here are deposited the large and carefully selected series of iron ores
gathered by Prof. Raphael Pumpelly and made the subject of his special Tenth
Census report, entitled "Iron and Steel." Many examples of how
iron and steel behave under certain tests, and appear when produced by certain
processes, are present also; the most notable features of this being the
Kirkaldy tests of Fagersta steel; the first Bessemer steel axle made in
America; the knotted and twisted bars and rods of toughened iron, which
almost equal rope in flexibility; and the shaving of Bessemer steel 2500
feet in length.
A fine suite of a dozen specimens of cinnabar (sulphide of mercury) and
sulphur, with their associates, brought from Sulphur Bank, Cal., is especially
interesting, as representing some of the phenomena connected with the deposition
of a metalliferous vein which is forming at the present time, an occurrence
which is not going on at any other locality with sufficient rapidity to
have been observed as yet. Corundum from North Carolina, and emery from
Turkey, in mass and ground to various degrees of fineness, acquaint us with
those important but uncommon minerals. Graphite is similarly shown in native
pieces and in commercial preparations. Potter's clays and fire- brick materials
form another series, and cements, a third. The sulphates, chlorides, oxides,
and other forms of nickel for plating, and of cobalt, etc., beautify one
case with lovely crystals of green and blue; while the ores of zinc and
copper (especially the native copper from northern Michigan), with various
processes in their manipulation, are explained by abundant specimens. Asbestos
in all its forms of manufacture makes a novel show. Coals are represented
in great variety also, covering the whole coal- bearing and coke- producing
regions of the Lehigh valley and other parts of the eastern states, and
forming a most instructive comparative display.
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those in use in foreign lands are presented, the most beautiful of which, no doubt, is the translucent Mexican "onyx," which is not true
onyx, but a cave or stalagmite marble precisely like the other beautiful
cave marbles beside it and the same thing as the Luray stalagmites and stalactites.
Great interest will be felt by many, too, in the large case of architectural
and sculptor's marbles from Italy, a column of grindstone in this department
is contributed by J E. Mitchell, 310 York avenue, Philadelphia, and represents
the various kinds of grindstone in common use for the manufacture aud sharpening
of edge tools, and for grinding files, iron and brass casting and pulleys,
and for glass cutting.
DEPARTMENT OF METALLURGY
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A model of the Leffel turbine wheel, a fuller description of which will be found in the Appendix, will interest machinists.
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The most valuable possessions in the department, however, are the ores of silver and gold which were gathered for the most part by agents of the Tenth Census, and represent fully all the districts of the west where these precious
metals are mined. Many of the specimens are not only beautiful to look at, rare and interesting scientifically, but of great intrinsic value, on account of the native gold or silver which they contain. The richest of these are
placed behind glass in a handsome Herring's safe where some thousands of dollars worth of gold in dust, scales, flakes, nuggets and bars, and of "wire " and other forms of native silver, are protected from theft, yet may be well seen. In another place are models of large nuggets yielded by the Australian gold fields, the two heaviest weighing respectively 884 ounces and 718 ounces, while several others exceed 200 ounces. Among the many magnificent displays of silver ores from special localities, the most popular interest probably will attach to that from the "bonanza " mines of the Comstock lode, in Nevada, a complete history and scientific
account of which has been published by the U. S. Geological Survey.
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