NICKEL MINERALS FROM NEW CALEDONIA. 



Bt Pbofessoe Liveesidge, Univeksitt op Sydney. 



l^Sead before the Moyal Society, 9 December, 1874.] 



These minerals consist of two hydrated silicates of nickel and 

 magnesia, wliicli are found in small veins and fissures traversing 

 the serpentine occurring at Mont D'Or, not far from the town of 

 Noumea, New Caledonia. They are associated with chrome 

 iron,* steatite, and other minerals commonly occurring in serpen- 

 tine, and are seen disseminated through the loose blocks and 

 boulders of that rock scattered over the surface of the ground. 



The chief differences between the two minerals are found in 

 some of their physical properties, for chemically they do not differ 

 so widely — in fact, both forms contain nearly equal proportions 

 of nickel ; their other constituents, however, vary considerably. 



I have already described one of these forms in a paper read 

 before the Chemical Society of London,t and for it I have 

 proposed the name of Notmieite. The Eev. W. B. Clarke, our 

 esteemed Vice-President, has since suggested the name Garnierite, 

 after M. Grarnier, a French geologist, who first reported the 

 occurrence of a silicate of nickel and magnesia in New Caledonia. 



Although M. Grarnier does not appear to have jDublished any 

 detailed analyses of the chemical composition of the mineral, 

 but to have merely described it as a silicate of nickel and mag- 

 nesia, to him naturally belongs the credit of its discovery. 



Therefore acting upon the Rev. W. B. Clarke's suggestion, I 

 propose to substitute the name Garnierite for Noume'ite, which 

 I first proposed for the pale green and adhesive mineral ; and for 

 the darker green and somewhat unctuous form I would venture to 

 suggest the name of Noume'ite, formerly given to the first variety. 



GrARNIERITE. 



Physical characters. 



The mineral is amorphous, and in some specimens much fissured. 

 The fissures themselves are filled in with white silica, which thus 

 forms thin plates, crossing one another in every direction, and 

 enclosing the green mineral between them. 



The mineral can readily be picked out from between the plates, 

 when a cellular structure like a honeycomb is left. 



In colour it is a beautiful pale apple-green to sea-green, parti- 

 cularly brilliant by artificial light. 



* The chrome iron iu one specimen contained 3211 per cent, metallic chromium, 

 t Jour. Chem. Soc, July, 1874. 



