The Lost Arts of Mineralogy

摘要

Back in the "old days," before the ready accessibility of X-ray and microprobe analysis services for the mineral collector, we had to (gasp!) know how to do our own mineral identifications in our own home, on a desktop or workbench laboratory. Using comparatively simple tools and techniques which required a functional understanding of some rudimentary chemistry and physics, we performed our own tests to identify unknown species. In those days, that was the essence of being an "amateur mineralogist" rather than just a mineral collector. It was fun and educational. With the changing trends in mineralogy and mineral collecting over the years, the practice of "classical mineralogy" has become virtually a lost art among the general population of collectors, and in fact is not much taught in University mineralogy courses anymore either. Even back in the 1960's, my old chemistry professor at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Cowles, was quite disgruntled over the trend. He used to complain that, before the young upstarts could get their big fancy machines warmed up to do a chemical analysis, he could find the answer using just an eyedropper, a test tube and a couple of liquid reagents.