132 Progress in Science. [January, 



rock is largely quarried for paving and road-making. Without entering into 

 the details of these experiments, which were conducted by Prof. Engels, the 

 inventor of lithofracteur, we may say that they satisfactorily showed the 

 extraordinary power and value of this explosive, whether for mining or for 

 military blasting, and also demonstrated its incapacity to explode by fire or 

 by ordinary percussion. 



It seems highly probable that Eastern Australia will soon enter into com- 

 petition with Cornwall and " The Straits " as a great tin-producing country. 

 A report on the recent discoveries of tin-ore in the colony of Queensland was 

 presented by Mr. F. T. Gregory at the opening meeting of the Geological 

 Society this session. According to this document, the ore has already been 

 found distributed over an area of about 550 square miles of granite country in the 

 neighbourhood of the head-waters of the Severn River and its tributaries. 

 Many small tin-lodes have been traced, invariably in association with a red 

 granite ; but the richest sources of tin are the deposits in the beds of streams 

 and in the alluvial flats on their banks. 



In the adjacent colony of New South Wales, and immediately adjoining the 

 stanniferous region of Queensland, important discoveries of tin-ore have also 

 been recently made, and are in course of rapid development. Some interesting 

 observations on these discoveries have been transmitted to this country by 

 Mr. G. H. F. Ulrich. The tin-yielding region of New South Wales forms an 

 elevated plateau in the district of New England, and consists mainly of 

 granitic and basaltic rocks, associated with metamorphic slates and sand- 

 stones. At the workings of the Elsmore Company, north-west of the Macin- 

 tyre River, the granite is traversed by veins of quartz containing tin-stone, and 

 by dykes of a softer granite, so rich in ore as to yield masses of oxide of tin up to 

 at least 50 lbs. in weight. Capping the granite range is a layer of recent tin- 

 bearing detritus, from 6 to 24 inches in thickness, and yielding from 3 ozs. to 

 more than 2 lbs. of tin-ore per dish of about 20 lbs. Beneath this there occurs 

 an older drift, which in some parts has yielded as much as 6 lbs. of ore per 

 dish, whilst other parts are comparatively poor. Though the full development 

 of the new mining industry thus established in this part of Australia may be 

 to some extent restricted by lack of a sufficient supply of water, yet Mr. 

 Ulrich considers it not unlikely that the production of tin-ore from this region 

 will eventually reach, or even surpass, that of all the old tin-mining countries 

 of the world. Mr. Daintree, who is well acquainted with the colony of 

 Queensland, calculates that the value of the deposits of stream-tin in that 

 colony must be about £13,000,000 sterling ! And, assuming that the neigh- 

 bouring colony of New South Wales possesses deposits of equal value, he 

 estimates that the stream-tin of this eastern part of Australia amounts to 

 about twenty-five times the annual production of Cornwall. The discovery of 

 tin in New South Wales is said to be due to the Rev. W. B. Clarke, who in 

 1849 predicted the occurrence of this metal from the character of some of the 

 local granites, and in 1853 reported the actual discovery of tin-ore in the 

 neighbourhood of the Severn River. It is only lately, however, that these 

 discoveries have excited any attention. 



The first half-yearly part of a new official periodical — the " Annals of 

 Mining in the Dutch East Indies"* — has lately been published. It contains 

 some valuable geological, mining, and metallurgical articles, including an 

 excellent paper on an important tin district in the island of Banca. 



METALLURGY. 

 Perhaps the best idea of the importance of metallurgy among the industries 

 of this country may be obtained by consulting the annual volumes of statistics 

 issued from the Mining Record Office by Mr. R. Hunt, F.R.S. The returns 

 for 1871 have been published during the past quarter, and from thence we learn 

 that the value of metals produced from ores raised in this country during that 



* Jaarboek van het Mijnwezen in Nederlausch, Oost-Indie. Uitgegeven op last van zijne 

 Excellence die Minister van Kolonien. Eerste Jaargang ; eerste Deel. 1872. 



