Minerals. 357 



1765. 



A polished, oval slab of brown and yellow jasper : presented 

 by the Earl of Exeter. 



1777. 



Two large, polished slabs of labradorite, showing change of 

 colour on change of incidence of the light ; from Nain, Labrador : 

 presented by the Rev. Benjamin La Trobe. 



1782. 



Malachite from China : presented by Mr. John Duncan. 



1790. 



Atacamite (" copper sand ") from Atacama, Chili : presented 

 by the Abbe Rochon. 



1797. 



Two mamillary masses and a polished slab of malachite ; 

 from the Urals : presented by the Rev. Robert Nares, F.R.S. 



1799. 



Owing to the smallness of the income of the Trust, there was 

 little money available for the purchase of specimens of any kind, 

 natural or artificial, and in fact no purchases of minerals were 

 made between 1753 and 1799. In the meantime the science of 

 mineralogy had made immense progress ; more especially, the 

 importance of crystalline form as a character of minerals had 

 received general recognition. Further, there had been great 

 activity in the principal mining districts of Great Britain, such 

 as Cornwall, Derbyshire and Lanarkshire. Splendid specimens 

 had been obtained from the English and Scotch mines, and yet 

 the minerals were scarcely represented in the National Collection. 

 Under these circumstances the Trustees, notwithstanding the 

 poverty of the Trust, seized an opportunity offered to them, and, 

 acting on a report made to them by the Rt. Hon. Charles 

 Greville, F.R.S., Mr. Philip Rashleigh, and the Rt. Hon. Sir 

 Joseph Banks, F.R.S., purchased the mineral collection of Mr. 

 Charles Hatchett, F.R.S. [1765-1847], of London, still remem- 

 bered by chemists for his discovery of the metal to which lie 



