304 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [March 8, 



I will add, for the satisfaction of geologists, that on all occasions I 

 investigated most rigorously, and with a suspicion worthy of the 

 sceptic, the history of each specimen ; most of them being sent to 

 me for examination, or brought direct from the various " diggings," 

 amidst a parcel of quartz crystals (often mistaken for diamonds) and 

 other shining and coloured mineral substances. And I invariably 

 satisfied my mind upon the authenticity of the specimen, or at once 

 rejected it as fictitious. In making this collection, I can claim no 

 merit, for I was mainly indebted to an extensive acquaintance with all 

 classes, and latterly to my position as the Vice-President of the only 

 Geological Society established in Australia, at a time when thousands 

 were anxious to be informed as to what they were daily finding in 

 the soil of that terra incognita. 



It was thus that I was enabled to announce to the colonists the 

 existence of tin (the oxide), in the form of " stream " tin and sand, 

 at the River Ovens, which the energy and enterprise of Mr. Charles 

 Terry, of Melbourne, by the formation of a company, has made so 

 richly available to his fellow-colonists ; as the ingot of tin, presented 

 by that gentleman to me, and now in the museum of this Society, 

 satisfactorily demonstrates. (See my letter published in the Mel- 

 bourne 'Argus' of 31st March, 1853.) 



It is well to remark, that up to the present time no systematic or 

 scientific search for the precious stones has been instituted ui the 

 Australian colonies ; such as have been discovered having been 

 found in the tin dishes of the gold-diggers, whilst washing the soil 

 (sands, gravels, &c.) in quest of gold. Yet, judging from analogy, 

 and observing that the conditions under which the gems to which I 

 shall presently refer are found are similar in Australia and the several 

 countries now supplying them, I feel persuaded that the day is not far 

 distant when the gems of Australia will be sought for as an article of 

 commerce ! As the observation applies to the condition under which 

 nearly all the Australian gems have as yet been found, it will simplify 

 this catalogue by stating that I detected the several specimens therein 

 referred to generally in association with all the following minerals, viz. 

 opake and transparent quartz, felspar, garnets, tourmaline, augite, 

 olivine, titaniferous iron, oxide of iron, iron pyrites, and (in the case 

 of the specimens from the River Ovens) associated vdth oxide of tin, 

 in crystals, small lumps (pepitas), and sand. 



None of them were found in existing river-courses, and rarely on 

 the banks of streams ; but, being found in a water-worn state, 

 together with native gold, both amorphous and crj^stallized, equally 

 water-worn, generally in ravines or gullies, there is little doubt that 

 their present localities are the sites of ancient river-courses and their 

 tributaries, whither they were borne, and rubbed by the action of 

 running water*. 



* Whilst this paper was going through the press, INIr. R. Jones has kindly 

 drawn my attention to an interesting account in the Proc. Amer. Acad. 1850, 

 p. 246, hy Mr. Alger, of several large and curious gold-ciystals obtained in Cali- 

 fornia by Mr. Piatt under circumstances very similar to those accompanying my 

 discovery of the Australian specimens. — July 1854, G. M. S. 



