THE RARE EARTHS. MAGEE. Ixxiii 



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, 

 etc., 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 

 called 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 

 Jong 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 riot, that it would not be casting any reflections on hi s 

 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 



