60 president's address SECTION B. 



on Wattle-barks,* which are found to contain from 15 to 46 

 per cent, of tannic acid, and have already proved to be 

 valuable for tanning purposes, and their cultivation found 

 easily remunerative to the agriculturist. 



Then may be mentioned Mr. Kirkland's discovery of 

 gallium and indium in some specimens of blende from 

 Peelwood, N.S.W., the details of which will form the 

 subject of an interesting paper by Mr. Kirkland. Tlie 

 minute structure of several of our more important rocks and 

 minerals is being carefully and thoroughly investigated by 

 the Rev. J. Milne Curran, F.G.y., a gentleman who has 

 lately been awarded the £25 prize and the medal of the 

 Royal Society of New South Wales. 



INot only is the presence of the rarer metals of interest, 

 but it is satisfactory to note that some observers are making 

 efforts to find out the actual state of combination in which 

 elements occur. An instance of this has lately been men- 

 tioned to me by Mr. Atherton through Dr. Storer, who finds 

 gold in the state of sulphide at Deep Creek, Nambucca, 

 N.S.W. Quantities of the raAv ore were treated with sodium 

 sulphide, and the gold obtained as Au^Sg, there being only 

 the merest trace left unacted on. 



Much of this kind of work needs to be done in the 

 Colony ; and if such questions were investigated by men who 

 understand what they are doing it would go a long way 

 towards facilitating the operations attempted in the smelting 

 works, where carbonates, chlorides, oxides, and sulphides 

 are often expected each to yield to the same kind of treat- 

 ment. 



Much has been said, and is still being said — though 

 chiefly by speculators and mining-share manipulators — about 

 the vast mineral resources of Australia, and glowing accounts 

 are set forth (in the pros])ectus, be it observed) of reefs, 

 leads, and auriferous de})Osits innumerable, where the precious 

 metals are supposed to exist in most comfortable and payable 

 quantities. But, when operations are well advanced, there 

 comes the inevitable awakening, when plain facts clearly 

 indicate that nature is not to be flirted Avith, notwithstanding 

 the potency of a prospectus. Machinery rusting in idleness, 

 useless furnaces, and other lumber remain as monuments of 

 the unfortunate practice of erecting mining plant before the 

 nature of the mine is sufficiently understood. The dearly- 



* Wattles and Wattle-barks, by J. H. Maiden, F.L.S., F.C.S, Second 

 edition. Sydney : The Government Printer, 1891. 



