Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, June 1899: Volume LVVarious
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, June 1899: Volume LV
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
As has been shown, the finished products of manufacturers are those
that are housed in the building devoted to commerce and manufacturing,
but the raw materials require a building or two for themselves. That
in which the products of the earth are exhibited is usually designated
the "Minerals and Forestry Building." This requires but brief mention,
and has its chief interest for the expert. Geological specimens,
including paleontological and lithological exhibits, show the age and
character of the soil, while the rocks further indicate the
possibilities of the territory, for they show the geological horizon.
In natural order are shown the minerals of the country. At Atlanta and
Nashville the richness of the mineral wealth of the Southern States
was fully demonstrated. Not only ores such as those of iron and
manganese, but the combustible minerals, as coal, lignite, and
petroleum, were exhibited. More striking, perhaps, are the great
numbers of economic minerals that these expositions show. The
materials--phosphate rock, sulphur, and nitrates--used in making
artificial fertilizers; the marbles; the pigment-yielding minerals,
including ochres, umber, and barite; the clays, with their products of
earthenware and pottery, bricks, and tiles; and even mineral waters
are among the different minerals to be seen. It is from such exhibits
that something of an idea is obtained of the enormous wealth that is
contained in the earth, waiting only to be excavated and fashioned
into articles of beauty and utility. While such exhibits are
frequently to be seen in museums, still the average mind is more
impressed by the casual examination of these things in expositions,
and one's pride of home increased by the rich stores of mineral wealth
attractively installed. It is customary also to show models of the
machinery used in mining, and even books, maps, and drawings are not
uncommonly seen.
A similar arrangement is followed in regard to the forest products.
Logs and sections of trees, as well as samples of wood and timber of
all kinds, are shown. Then come the finished products--boards,
shingle, and moldings--and finally the manufactured articles, such as
pails, tubs, and then furniture. Barks, as for tanning or dyeing,
seeds and gums, and the wood pulp for paper are on exhibition. Among
the miscellaneous products deserving mention are fibers, as used in
basket-making or cane work.
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