[Rockhounds] What is a mineral

[Rock Currier]

It seems to me that the IMA is well on its way to puting itself out of 
business. Their definition of a mineral cleaves strongly to the classical 
definition, and the more ridgedly they stick to this definition the further 
out of step they become to what is happening in the world today. Is there a 
university in the USA that offers a degree in mineralogy and if so how many 
students are studying to get one? Even geology departments are vanishing at 
an alarming rate to be replaced with departments with names that encompass a 
wider spectrum of human interests. It would seem advisable to expand the 
definition of what a mineral is and make it as broad as possible and 
therefore claim as wide a domain as possible for study.

Certainly recognize slag minerals and many others created by human activity. 
Certainly recognize nano minerals. Think how greatly this would expand the 
domain of mineralogy. The structure of the nano mineral that causes the 
color in rose quartz is known, but not recognized because many of the 
classical physical properties currently required for approval are currently 
impossible to measure. How about the structure of teeth and bones. I would 
certainly want to claim that that as an area of official mineralogical 
study.



How much locality data and other information should be on a museum display 
label? Certainly at least the species names and the Country would be bare 
minimum. How much more information you put on them depends on how much 
information you want to try and give the public. Want percentage of the 
public will read beyond the species names and the country of origin. Not 
many, but remember you should be trying to ignite the interest in that one 
person in a hundred who may go on and develop a real interest in mineralogy. 
I think no museum should use the excuse that 99% of the people looking at 
the mineral don't care to learn more about and that is a good reason to 
truncate display information. With the advent of inexpensive computers and 
flat screen displays, entering a specimen number can access any amount of 
extra data about the specimen and not interfere with the attractiveness of 
the exhibit. This may be the future.

Rock