The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-01-02
MINERALS AND m TEoRrTEs.
a Donation to the Arll erican Museum,
of National History.


collection OF minerals and meteorites,
valued at from $4,000 to $500 00o. from
= person whose name is not made public
me collection was made by Clarence S
cement Of Philadelphia The collecting
he22D thirty-fve years ago. and as seienti-
nc knowledge grew ana means ampIifed
the specimens increased in number and
quality. The process Of adding. culljrg
and exchanging has been carried on up to
the present The best was good enough
for Mr. Bement To get 1t was a matter
O. time and opportunity. as well as Of
money To gather minerals in quantity
and kind adapted for scientific study or the
! instruction Of the ignorant is comparative
~ easy; the brain and the purse are both
taxed TO assemble tee specimens CLASSIFIED
by mineralogists, and at the same time Of
quality to display natures most perfect,
rare or freakish handiwork
As early as 1884 the Bement collection
attracted the attention of the United
States authorities, and report was pub
hshed in the interest of the National
Museum at Washington asserting that its
purchase would place that museum OF
par with many of the great ones in
Europe. Spencer F Baird declared re-
peatediy that if he lived the Government
should have the collection The curator
OF foreign museum saw it, and after
returning to Europe cabIed that he would
buy it, but the gathering of the money
was too difficult. Speaking of selling, it
might be imagined that Mr.. Bement col
! Iected with a mercenary view Not So
HIS collection grew to such Importance
mat curatOrS, scientists, and visitors uTg-
ca that II should go to a public institu-
ton He was always ready to assume a
liberal attitude toward any such acquisi-
/ ton.
Though realizing that the collection. as
| early as 1884 had assumed museum pro-
/ portions, he went on with additions and
| improvements up TO the last month. His
! collection has increased by over 80 per
/ cent since 1884. The specimens have not
( been counted, but are supposed 10 number
I about fourteen thousand. The foreign
! professors Nordenskiold Won Rath Groth
! and LacrofZ found much TO interest them
/ spending many days in his mineral rooms.
! Prof Maskelyne, former curator of the
/ British Museum, and Prof. Niers, of Ok
lord, were also his visitors In mineralo-
! gy the British Museum collection as a
/ whole exceeds that of all others but its
/ American department is quite inferior to
/ MI Dement'S, and there are many speci-
J mems IN the general series which would
/ improve the collection in London II has
/ somehow happened, either by luck or lib
crafty, that Mr.. Bement got the pick of
/ oLher collections In 1883 he selected
! from the Spang collection. then the best
/ private collection in the country and
! cuiled four other collections. The cOllec-
/ ton OF Baron Braun, Of Munich and sew
/ eral others were picked. It would be diff
cult 10 find anyone more fmbued with the
! genius Of collecting than Mr.. Bement.
[ he has made collections in several lines
all Of which have been Of high quality.
SO much has been said Of the collectors
I motives, as it is the simplest way to con-
; Yey some idea of the character and quality
{ OF the specimen. A Absorption is imprac-
/ Icable- Capitalization in the greatest Of
I variety and with features OF Importance
/ to the scientific man abound. and while
/ there is food for he finished scholar in
/ mineralogy. there IS plenty 10 interest
: the tyro or the casual observer Some
! species will interest the general public
. more particularly than others. tie quartz
crystals. for instance, beautiful TO any
eye, as also the flour spar, and the beryIs.
! 5arytes, cuolcites, RaTnets suiphurs czu-
rites, tourmalines. topazes. etc Though
massIyeness alone is net the ideal of the
connOisseur, there are four OF five hun
{ dred large pieces. forming 20 the coIIec-
ton crown Of beauty and color. Min
. erals are obtained mostly from mines and
railroad cuttings. some from trap rocks
by the seashore- others in creyasses OF
mountains and from volcanoes. Vesuvius
is rich locality The Swiss nountaineer.
though hardy and satisfied with sma II Fay,
has almost given up the search for min
erals on account Of the scarcity and the
dangers incurred in looking for them in
almost inaccessible places.
! One Of the famous pieces is a splendid
smoky quartz crystal. which weighs six
y-hve pounds. Il was found over twenty
! years ago in the Tiefen Glacier near the
FGTca Pass. The specimens found were
lowered by ropes, and several were
. scratched and damaged NJ. Burke, a citi-
. zen of Berne secured the lot for the, local
museum, retaining for himself this grand
. specimen. naming II The President" Nfr
Bement secured it when he picked NJ
Burke's collection. The feature Of this
crystal is its fine condition
Some Of the gypsum crystals. delicate
t enough to be scratched BY the finger nall
are fine and clear as plate glass The
+ largest crystal is about forty by eight
. inches The remarkable emerald. eight
ard half inches long, from North -Garo-
lima. valued al $1,000 in 1884 and figured
in Kunz's work on American gems. is
I. here. Prof. Won Rath, of the University
/ Of Bonn. confessed that without having
seen this collection, he would have had
but faint idea of the beauty Of American
minerals After his return to Europe in
. 1884 he wrote an article for a German
. by Mr. KUnZ and printed n New York in
1856. The professor hoped that the treas
F.. ures so happily combined would find
/ worthy place in the National Museum at
Washington. Now, by II e liberalitv Of one
Of its citizens, they are in this city. where
they viii do the greatest good 10 the
greatest number
The collection of metaorites is a most
interesting addendum- f. numbers about
FIVE or six hundred specimens from AS
falls. They are unusual as TO size and
quality. Collecting meteOrites is a very
costly pursuit. They are so precious as
/ to be sold by the gramme One little
specimen, Of prehistoric find weighing
/ seventeen grammes. would readily bring
S100. The specimens range from a single
gramme 20 about one hundred and fifty
pounds and at dealers prices the meteor
ties are worth $50, 000- The price paid for
the whole collection is not given but the
money value is reckoned at between $3.50
600 and $500 600 The directors and trus-
| tees may well feel proud that they now
possess both the Tiffany gem minerals
and the Bement minerals and meteorites
The American Museum of Natural History
has been under the presidency OF Morris
K Jesup for twenty years. He has given
| time and money without stint and the
directors and trustees have been liberal
| in their aid until what was once com
passed by the dingy old arsenal in Central
| Park is now expanded in the splendid
| American Museum of Natural History
| While it is considered only half grown. It
| I,,l orr0yrn % dorYhf HafCra