NOTES. 155 
zinc have been picked up along a range of thirty miles, 
over the Racoon Mountains, on the southern border of 
Tennessee, Sand Mountain, and the northern portion of 
Georgia and Alabama. The vein is now being explored, 
and Mr. Marks hopes to find the zinc in place.” 
This letter was written in 1876, and I have been unable 
to find any further remarks upon the subject bearing later 
dates, which fact lends itself to the conclusion that hitherto 
the occurrence of native zinc has been very doubtful. I think 
I am now in a position to prove that zinc does occur in the 
native state. The specimen on the table was brought in as 
a donation to the Queensland Museum some short time 
back by the Hon. B. B. Moreton, M.L.A.,who wished to know 
if the metal was silver. A very short examination before the 
blow-pipe showed me that it was zinc. The three fragments 
do not make sufficient amount to allow of my taking any for 
a complete analysis thereof, but I hope to do this at some 
later period when a larger specimen is obtained from the 
Gulf country, the locality where this was found. The 
metal is in irregularly fibrous masses, the colour of the 
fractural surface being white, and the streak the same 
colour; the hardness is 2, and the sp. gr. 7°52 at 62° F.; 
this is higher than the sp. gr. of manufactured zinc, whichis 
from 6°9—7°2 according to the way in which it is cooled. 
The specimens are incrusted with a white substance which 
I find to be smithsonite, the carbonate of zinc. 
As I have already remarked, I cannot be perfectly certain 
that native zinc has never been found before, but it 
assuredly is a new mineral for Queensland, and in either 
case is worthy of note. Native zinc can probably never be 
of commercial value, as it would require refining just as 
much as the zinc from other ores ofthe metal. The interest 
of the mineral from a scientific point of view, however, is 
not small. 
Iam given to understand that the specimens, the sub- 
ject of this note, were not found in detached pieces, but 
formed part of a well-defined vein. 
‘“ON THE OCCURRENCE OF TOPAZ IN ASSOCIATION 
WITH TIN,” by E. B. Lindon, A.R.S.M., etc.—Topaz, as 
everyone must be aware, is a very frequently and widely 
disseminated mineral in close conjunction with tin ore 
