British Museum (Natural History): Acquisitions

Abstract

A GIFT has been made to the Department of Mineralogy of a large polished slab of thodonite and pyrolusite, both manganese minerals, from Pencrebar, Callington, Cornwall, collected by the donor, Mr. Arthur Russell, president of the Mineralogical Society. A well-crystallized stilbite from Kalumpang, Ulu Selangar, has been presented by the Director of the Geological Survey of the Federated Malay States. This is the first zeolite specimen from that locality to be added to the British Museum collections. Three interesting specimens of Terra Sigillata have been presented by Mr. E. P. Bottley. Similar tablets of clay, formerly included in every pharmacopœia as an antidote for snake bites and poisons, were shaped and stamped from medicinal earth found in various localities, notably the Island of Lemnos, Greece, and Prussian Silesia. These three tablets are probably eighteenth century specimens and bear easily legible insignia and characters. They form a welcome addition to a very fine set belonging to the Sloane collection. Terra Sigillata clays and related materials, such as China clay, have very high absorptive properties which render them of value in the treatment of dysentery and cholera.