Professor Cooke's Work.

Anyone who has visited the Boylston Chemical Labratory and seen the mineralogical collection upstairs, has doubtless been surprised at the size of the collection, and at the rare beauty of some of the specimens. But unless he were a connoisseur he would hardly realize that this was one of the two finest collections of the kind in America, the other being at Yale. The European collections which surpass the Harvard one are those at the British Museum, at Vienna, and at Paris. All of these collections, however, have been aided by subsidies from the government. The Harvard collection has the virtue of being practically the work of one man.

When Professor Cooke was appointed Erving Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy, he took charge of the small mineralogical collection which the college then possessed. As the interest in elective studies grew, it became evident that a larger collection of minerals would be admirable training for a man's powers of observation. This started Professor Cook on his collecting, and he has carried out this great work with the assistance of the late Mr. Cogswell and other friends. Gifts by Mr. Theodore Lyman have enabled Professor Cook to make several purchases. At different times he has raised over $20.000 by subscription and by purchases of his own. He receives a small annual grant from the Corporation to enable him to carry on his work of collecting. He has made various excursions in search of mineral specimens, and has often been greatly in need of funds for making purchases of specimens of which there were absolutely no duplicates. The collection contains so many specimens which could not be replaced that Professor Cooke is anxious to have it moved from such a building as the Chemical Laboratory, where accidents are so likely to occur. For this reason the collection is to be moved to the University Museum.

Among the rare specimens that Professor Cooke has obtained is a remarkable collection of meteorites. There is not another collection like it in America, and even the British Museum cannot produce such specimens as some of those to be seen in the Harvard Collection. Although the study of meteorites is only comparatively recent, these falling bodies were noted in ancient times and thought to be miracles. They used to be preserved and worshipped; and Livy tells us that about 652, B. C., the Senate decreed nine days' solemn festival on account of a shower of stones on the Alban Mount. There is a meteoric stone in the British Museum which fell in Japan 150 years ago, and which has since been preserved in a temple as a relic.

In Professor Cooke's collection is a meteorite which is probably the oldest ever preserved. It was discovered by Professor Putnam of the Peabody Museum on the altar of one of the mounds in the Little Miami Valley. The discovery of this stone has confirmed many students in the belief that these meteorites were worshipped by the mound builders, and that the worship of skystones was the earliest form of idolatry.

Professor Cooke's duties as chief director of the chemical department of the University have compelled him to give up the immediate care of the mineralogical collection to his nephew, O. W. Huntington Ph. D., who is instructor in mineralogy and chemistry. Dr. Huntington has been making a careful study of the meteoric specimens, and has got out several catalogues and treatises on the subject. Dr. Huntington's views differ widely from those of other recent investigators. He says that the main difficulty lies in there being two kinds of meteorites, irons and stones. He believes, however, that they are a part of the solar system, revolving about the sun in a plane different from the ecliptic, and that the earth keeps meeting them in its yearly journey.