NICKEL-IEON ALLOT AWAEUITE OE NEW ZEALAND. 621 



outcrop (hence the name " Red-Hill ") of the peridotite ; but those of 

 the serpentine varieties come principally from the slope of the range, 

 falling towards the Jerry River, a tributary of the Gorge River. 

 One of these latter specimens, of thin lamellar (antigorite-like) struc- 

 ture, was found to be impregnated with fine specks, of silvery- white 

 colour and metallic lustre, which on examination proved to be the 

 new mineral Awaruite. In most of the other serpentine specimens 

 whitish metallic-looking specks were also discovered, but they all 

 turned out to be pyrite, except in one piece of common dark green 

 serpentine, which yielded after crushing and washing, from amongst 

 a small amount of pyrite-powder, a small hackly grain of the alloy. 

 Up to the time of this discovery of the matrix-rock of the Awa- 

 ruite nothing was known or had been published about a similar 

 discovery by anyone elsewhere * ; but in answer to a letter I wrote 

 to Mr. Macfarlane, pointing out the discovery and asking for any 

 specimens of peridotite and serpentine he might have preserved from 

 his previous explorations, he informed me that he had also noticed 

 the metallic specks and would send a number of specimens contain- 

 ing them. These I received some months later, but found only two 

 specimens (dark-green serpentine) with unmistakable Awaruite in 

 them, the metallic specks in the remainder proving to be pyrite. 

 Considering the great scientific interest attaching to the discovery of 

 the mineral and its matrix combined, because of the apparent close 

 relationship of the occurrence to certain of the stony meteorites, and 

 apprehending the find in danger of being quite overlooked, from the 

 fact that, although made public in New Zealand nearly a year pre- 

 vious, no notice of it had up to that time appeared in ' Nature ' and 

 other English and foreign scientific journals of eminence, I wrote 

 letters to a number of distinguished authors, specially interested in 

 the study of the peridotite rocks in England, America, and Germany, 

 giving the main particulars of the occurrence of the mineral and 

 the results of Mr. Skey's work. The President of the Geological 

 Society at that time, Professor Judd, being one amongst the number, 

 considered my communication of sufficient interest to be brought 

 before the Society, and announced at the same time my intention of 

 submitting a paper regarding the discovery, provided I was success- 

 ful in procuring more detailed information about the geology of the 

 country in which it was made, and more material to work upon f. In 



* Mr. Skey's footnote to his second paper in the * Annual Keport of the Colo- 

 nial Museum and Laboratory,' quoted in the foregoing, appeared several months 

 after my find became known. 



t In the ' Abstract of the Proceedings ' of the Society at that Meeting, 

 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xliii. 1887, Proceed, p. 3, the credit of having dis- 

 covered the Awaruite is given to me, no doubt through some misunderstanding, 

 whilst Mr. Skey, as the analyst and namer of it, is not mentioned ; and it is further 

 stated that I consider Awaruite and the meteorite Oktibbehite as identical in 

 chemical composition. In consequence of these mistakes Sir James Hector, the 

 Director of the Geological Survey of New Zealand, in a letter in the March 

 number of ' Nature ' 1887, casts a suspicion of piracy upon me regarding the 

 discovery of the mineral, and accuses me of ignorance as to the second point, 

 although perfectly innocent on both these charges, as my letters to Professors 



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