CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PAPERS. 63 



NATIVE ZINC. 



By J. T. WiLLAED, Kansas State Agricultural College, Manhattan. 

 Read before Academy, at Manhattan, November 27, 1903. 



TN September, 1903, Mr. Frank A. Thackrey, superintendent of tlie 

 -*- United States Indian Training School. Shawnee, Okla., sent the 

 writer a specimen of metal supposed to be native, and found in the 

 banks of a new channel of a river. Upon examination, the metal 

 proved to be zinc, and a request was made for further information 

 concerning its occurrence and quantity. In reply, the following let- 

 ter was received from Mr. Thackrey : 



"Answering your letter of the 17th inst., I beg to advise that I have been un- 

 able as yet to personally investigate the allotment where the specimen of zinc, 

 sent you some time ago, was found, as the allotment on which it was found i8 

 located a considerable distance from this ofBce, and I have been unusually busy. 

 I have ascertained, however, that it was found in a new channel made by the 

 North Canadian river last spring during the high water, wherein it cut acroFS a 

 low, sandy bottom, and that several other smaller pieces were found along the 

 same banks of this new channel in the river. I also learned that some years ago 

 the allottee was digging a ditch to drain a pond into the same river on the same 

 land, and in the bottom of this ditch, four or five feet underground, he found 

 several similar specimens. However, he thinks the one sent you was the best he 

 found, the others being smaller but of the same nature. I shall endeavor to 

 look further into the matter as soon as possible, and shall be pleased to report 

 the facts to you as soon as I can do so." 



The specimen of metal sent is a flat, irregular mass, encrusted to a 

 certain extent with earthy material, the whole weighing 43 grams. 

 It has the coarse, crystalline texture common to zinc. 



Native zinc is given by Dana as being reported from near Mel- 

 bourne. Australia, from northeast Alabama, and from Shasta county, 

 California. The comment is added, "Its existence in nature, how- 

 ever, needs confirmation." It is hoped that additional evidence may 

 be secured in respect to the present instance, though there seems to 

 be no reason to doubt the genuineness of the specimen. 



