THE RARE EARTHS.—MAGEE. Ixxili 
other places when thorough investigation has been made. From Dana’s 
latest published textbook of mineralogy, the unabridged edition of 1892, 
I, a few years ago, made out a list of 62 minerals which contain the Ce. 
group, so-called, viz. :—Ce., Di., and La. Never did I find our own pro- 
vince recorded as having produced a single specimen. This I do not 
believe to be correct, when so many rare and peculiar minerals exist here, 
where there are rocks of every geological age, and where every one of the 
ordinary elements except the Pt. group has been found, I cannot but 
believe that the presence of the rare earths has been overlooked. I am 
not conversant with Prof. Hind’s papers, but it would be interesting to 
know whether, in his numerous analyses of the minerals of the Province, 
he ever sought for the presence of the rare earths. It would not be sur- 
prising if he had, and yet failed to find them, for the methods of testing 
for them are not given in the ordinary text books of analytical chemistry 
and in the larger qualitative works of Prescott and Johnson, Fresenius, 
ete., very little attention is paid to them; they are mentioned in foot- 
notes or in fine print, and only the most advanced chemists are likely to 
pay any attention to them. This is partly because they are of little 
importance to the ordinary analyst, and partly because the field is so 
difficult ; and advanced chemists will of course go to the original papers. 
Still this all tends to the overlooking of these earths. A chemist might 
even take the B. Sc. degree, with Chemistry as his main subject, in any 
English or American university and know little beyond the fact of the 
existence of and the probable rarity of these elements. He might even 
obtain a Doctorate in Chemistry, and, unless his attention were especially 
ealled to the subject, know little of them. They are out of the ordinary 
line of travel. I am not saying this merely to fill in the time and make a 
long paper, as some may be tempted to think, but to show that, even if 
Prof. Hind did not look for these elements, and I am strongly inclined 
to think he did not, that it would not be casting any reflections on hiS 
skill as a chemist, nor slurs on his reputation as an analyst. They are 
considered out of the line of any one except the chemist who specializes 
along these lines. I need scarcely say that this is a mistake, to some 
extent at least. None but an advanced specialist in inorganic chemistry 
is likely to work with the earths, at least until more is known concerning 
them, but any ordinary chemist might easily look for their presence. I 
trust, if any especially heavy minerals or peculiar ones are known to 
members of this institute, the same being of provincial origin, they would 
apply the simple test I have mentioned—precipitation by oxalic acid in 
