All About the Study and Collection of Gems In Museums

Visual and palpable examination of gems and gem minerals is most desirable, if one would have a thorough understanding of gemology, for all that the best of books can teach must necessarily be, to a considerable extent, abstract. Fortunately for those who abide or sojourn near enough to take advantage of them, there are several public museums in America which possess collections of minerals, including gem minerals, and in New York City the great educational institution, The American Museum of Natural History, has, in addition, a fine collection of cut gems, principally the gift of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, which is a delight to the eye of every visitor who sees it. While one cannot handle the minerals in such collections, and thus prove the statements made in this book and other publications, that gems are cold and that some feel greasy or have other qualities determined by the tactile sense they are free for all to study optically, and so plain and practical is their scientific and common-sense arrangement, that the appreciative student must feel in his heart a great sense of thankfulness, not only to the generous men of wealth, who by gifts and endowments have created this magnificent institution, but also to the curators who have by their arrangements in exhibiting and labelling, with the auxiliaries of "rubrics" and guides and other publications, made the study of these representative specimens of minerals so easy that it might almost be said that "he who runs may read." The students of gems in New York owe to the generosity of Mr. Morgan the two large Tiffany exhibits of precious stones which were prepared by Tiffany & Co., under the direction of Dr. George Frederic Kunz, and exhibited, with distinction and credit, at the Universal Expositions of 1889 and 1900 at Paris. These two collections are now incorporated in the general exhibit of gems in the Gem Room at the museum. In connection with these exhibits, and as a recognition of his public services in behalf of art and science, Mr. Morgan was made by the French Republic Officier de Legion d'Honneur. Mr. Morgan also presented to the museum the superb mineralogical collection of Mr. Clarence S. Bement, of Philadelphia, which has for years stood foremost among American cabinets, and vies (especially in the matter of American minerals) with the great collections of the world. In this connection it is interesting and appropriate to record the generous gift of Mrs. Matilda W. Bruce of New York City, who created the Bruce Fund; this is an endowment, of the sum of ten thousand dollars, of the Department of Mineralogy of the American Museum of Natural History, which yields an annual income of $660, which is applied to the purchase of specimens. The development of minerals is the slowest growth in the scheme of creation, but it is a satisfaction to know that in the American Museum of Natural History, as in other "live" kindred institutions, the collection of minerals develops and improves rapidly, as is well known to those who have solicitously kept pace with it year by year. For the student who would go deeper than to the extent of a mere faney, there exist associations most helpful and interesting, of which the student can be the beneficiary and a member at very slight cost; such as the New York Mineralogical Club and the Philadelphia Mineralogical Club, which hold educative meetings where the members read papers and in many ways contribute information, and which make field study trips to localities known to be productive of specimens of interest. All who visit the collections at the American Museum of Natural History should obtain Guide Leaflet No. 4 for the Collection of Minerals (which is a supplement to the American Museum Journal), written by Louis P. Gratacap, A.M., Curator, Department of Mineralogy, of the museum. For more extensive information applicable to this collection and institution, and to similar ones, a most profitable investment would be the book by the same author, A Vade Mecum Guide to Mineral Collections, with a Chapter on the Development of Mineralogy, with enlightening halftone illustrations and over two hundred figures of crystals. There are also periodical publications devoted entirely or in part to mineralogy.