_3. Platinum-pointed Forceps._--At least one pair of forceps is needed, and it should preferably be made of steel, nickel-plated to prevent rusting. One end has platinum points self-closing by means of a spring, so that the piece of mineral to be heated, placed between them, may be firmly supported. At the other end are other forceps of ordinary pattern for picking up small fragments; this end, however, should never be placed in the flame. A pair of common self-closing forceps might also be at hand for holding test-tubes, etc., in the flame. _4. Platinum Wire._--A few inches of thin platinum wire are indispensable, and lengths of an inch or so may be fixed into suitable handles. A convenient method is to have a small glass rod for a handle, and by fusing the tip of one end of the rod the glass may readily be made to hold the piece of wire. Pieces of platinum foil are useful, also, as will presently be seen. _5. Charcoal._--The outfit should comprise several pieces of charcoal, and a convenient form for each piece is a circular disc about an inch in diameter, flat at the top and convex beneath. Long prisms of the same material, square in section, are occasionally required; these may be up to 6 inches, or so, in length. _6. Glass Tubes._--These should be of hard glass, small, of several diameters, the bore being large enough to place fragments of minerals or earthy substances within. Closed tubes, such as test-tubes, are always requisite. _7. Chemical Reagents._--These are, for the most part, used as fluxes, and those most commonly employed are borax (sodium tetraborate), soda (sodium carbonate), and salt of phosphorus or microcosmic salt (phosphate of soda and ammonia). Small quantities of potassium bisulphate (in a glass bottle), as also small bottles of hydrochloric, nitric, and sulphuric acids, and a solution of cobalt nitrate, are also useful in certain cases. It is hardly necessary to remark that the chemicals employed must be of the highest degree of purity. _8. Miscellaneous Articles._--Strips of test paper, both turmeric and blue litmus, a small hammer, a steel anvil about an inch cube, a bar magnet, a pair of cutting pliers, a three-cornered file, and a few small watch-glasses are very desirable, though not absolutely essential. The reader, on glancing at the foregoing formidable list of articles, may possibly imagine that some considerable outlay is requisite, and that they must occupy much space. But that is not the case. An ordinary blowpipe, a grease lamp, a small spirit lamp, and all the articles mentioned in paragraphs 3 to 8, both inclusive, occupy but a small space. They may be packed in a box specially fitted, and one in the writer’s possession, containing all of them, measures only 10 inches by 5 inches by 3¼ inches, and is less than 3 lbs. in weight.