New-York tribune., 1901-11-27
SCIENTIFIC ACQUISITIONS.
NEW MATERIAL AT THE NATURAL Hl0-
TORY MUSEUM

| -. o.- has heen a fortunate for the
| American Museum of Natural History. Many au
| ditons have been made to It's cohecuohs oS ois
ooverv purchase or gift, and much materlal WHICH
80 hae, stored for years is now placed on ex-
bib;t,on for the first time. For THESE reasons liie
! president and trustees invited the ihelnoels oi %
Museum organization and their friends to Visit that
institution Yesterday for survey OF recent acqusl
+ons before the general public were adnltteu' ihe
| nnnor+unitv was improved by hundreds.
| The Morgan gem collection ana the beineht coi-
lection of minerals were conspicuous loVeILe'-
Rotb of them were presented by J. Pierpont Nor
eap and neither of them has been shown before
The mineral collection was described by Inc ITIo
,,n. eeveraI months ago. 1t has been regarded oy
EXPERTS as the finest in this country outsite Vi
museum 1t was attractively arranged ana "dS
a1roost as beautiful as Mr.. Morgan's other gift
, The gems were displayed in a large recess sepa-
| ro+aa from the rest OF the hall by a strong put
| ornamental grating like that in safety deposlt
vaults They kept under guard at all hourS Vi
tho dav In the centre of the space devoted 10 the
Jewels was an octagonal case. with horizontal ana
| 1nright compartments. In the former were di-
rorged the gems proper and in the latter the MIN
erals or other materials from which they were oe
rived One subdivision of the octagon was deVoteu
,o ,earls another to the beryl and hyaclHtn' d
| third to the topaz and on, and each group was
made I'D in such way as to show the variety ol
+i,+s found therein in nature. The size, beauty
and exquisite cutting of many OF the 1e"eis "eio
also features of much interest.
One of the recent acquisitions OF the dePd inc
of vertebrate fossils, an ichthyosaurus presented
| b,y Professor Fraas has already been rneh'loheu
| b,- THE Trhune But there number OF othef
| new specimens Among them were uilho o"i
skeletons of three toed horses, the skull ana jaws
| - roastodon the remains of a megalosaurus (the
largest carnivorous animal known ana the Hios'
| ancient mammal zkeeton in the Museum 'na' VI q
| pantalambda :,
| The novelties in the department OF geology IN
cIuded large Devonian fishes, fossil corals from 'e
| Ohio River. mollusks from New-Jersey ana 0ou'i
Dakota an exceptionally large and nne colecIloit @
of meteorites (on deposit1, and FOSSILS lRoiii h
Gbiects illustrating bygone civilizations and eth
nology have been added in great nuneIS man ~ an an
Museums collections OF ate; Ine garpents -o textile
fabrics musical instruments mummies ana artTes tr
Tribune last spring Ancient Mexico and &c Central
America have been well represented afred nor 6G much
more material of high value SeVeral
h and restoration of the sanctuary Of the
Temple of the Cross at Palenque were contrlouteu
Columbian painting on cloth and a rare sculpture
| from Vera Cruz are among the new treasures
Still another large important and UNIQUE 1
ancient pueblos. cliff houses and burial caves OF
the Southwest. and from the present Pueblo & tnd,
| is the gift of the brothers B. Talbot Hyde and
Frederick E Hyde, tr and is the result OF @
groups came from the pueblo OF Bonito: an
This ruin Consists Of several hundred rooms and
| is being thoroughly explored by the Hyde Expedi-
zion The pottery from Room % OF the ruin Is a
remarkable series OF ceremonial vessels In Room
50 were obtained a large collection OF ceremonIal
sticks lunches of arrows with stone points. cIuo
made OF antler and small figure OF a bird cut
ON OF hematite, the wings represented by inlaid
| pieces o. turquoise and sFeN-
The 5000 pieces OF turquoise now exhibited were
found in Room 33 Many pieces OF turquoise were
cut 10 be used for mosaic work IN connection with
pieces OF shell and Jet found associated with them
in ihts same room weI~ found several huteS mace
OF wood. Specimens Of remarkable workrnansalp ,3
were found in Room 3S. Among these is a HfesiZe
| frog carved from Jet and inlaid with pieces Of
turduoise TWO nlaid scrapers made from the leg
bones OF the antelope, and several small ngureS
OF ducks cut from turquoise.