402 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION B. 
stained with the ordinary blue-purple colour characteristic of gold 
absorbed or taken up by organic matter. 
All the bottles put up prior to October, 1889, had been kept in 
a cool, dark room, without a window, and the door of which was 
seldom opened, hence the change may, in these cases, have gone 
on more slowly. 
Although the fungoid growth had been observed in some of the 
bottles prior to October, 1889, no special attention was paid to 
the matter until that date, hence in the table which follows no 
remarks are appended before that date. 
The amount of gold chloride in bottles from one to eight is 
unknown, but from number nine to the end of the series it is 
‘O01 gramme (roughly) of the crystallised double gold and sodium 
chloride. 
Since the note was communicated to the Australasian Associa- 
tion, and pending the printing of the paper, I have been able to add 
observations upon the solutions up to the 28th May, 1890. 
The following table shows the changes which took place in the 
solutions of gold chloride on the addition of various reducing 
substances ; the first date indicates when the solution was put up 
and the other dates when the observations were made. 
REAGENT AND RESULTS. 
Darter. iNOn le 
1-12-84. Phosphorus in Ether. 
1-1-90.—Blue-purple colour. Heavy blue-black growth. 
22-5-90.—Blue-purple solution. Heavy blue-black growth, one 
mass of which 2 in. long and 1] in. wide. 
28-5-90.—No further change. 
No. 2. 
1-12-84. Phosphorus in Ether. 
1-1-90.—Perfectly colourless solution. Blue-black growth. 
Photographs and sketches were made of this. 
22-5-90.—Colourless solution. Blue-black voluminous growth, 
with some light-coloured growth. 
28-5-90.—No further change. 
No. 3. 
30-4-85. Phosphorus in Ether. 
1-1-90.—Quart bottle. Solution colourless. Both white and 
blue-black fungoid growths had formed. The white 
were fluffy, about }in. through, quite different 
from the other growths, and possessing a blue-black 
nucleus or centre. 
