March 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



THE GEMS OF AUSTRALIA. 373 



nearly all the diamonds and sapphires were so found, or picked out of the 

 tindish in the last operation of clearing the gold. Still, no one came forward 

 as far as I could learn. Notices of discoveries did appear occasionally 

 in the public papers, but they have always been individual and fragmen- 

 tary. About a year ago, when iuy leisure became too little and too 

 interrupted to allow me to look to my laboratory for relaxation from my 

 serious duties, it occurred to me that I might find a source of reasonable 

 recreation, without much demand on my time, if I took up once more 

 this branch oi my early education, whilst at the same time I might 

 hope to contribute my mite towards opening up a probable source of 

 profit to others, by directing attention to this neglected element of 

 wealth, by eliciting valuable information from others, and by throwing 

 out such practical hints as might occur to me for easily and speedily 

 accomplishing its realisation. To judge from the display of jewellery 

 in the windows of this city, one can have no doubt of the great demand 

 for it ; while one regrets that so much of that which is manufactured 

 here should be stuffed with cheap, trumpery stones, and more frequently 

 only paste and imitation stones, notwithstanding that we have both an 

 abundance of fine stones in the country and the requisite means of 

 imparting to them the highest finish in cutting and polishing. In the 

 case before me, I have brought together a somewhat extensive collection 

 of colonial precious stones, some my own, the greater portion kindly 

 lent me by my friends for the purpose of being exhibited this evening. 

 To assist me in the history of some of them, I have invited — and he is 

 here — Mr. Spink, the able lapidary, who cut 'many of them, and who 

 kuows them well ; and Mr. Murray, the jeweller, of Bourke-street, who 

 has brought the gem of the evening with him. Here they are in goodly 

 array, and for the sake of enabling you to form a juster idea ol them, 

 they are placed, as far as may be, side by side with the best specimens 

 I could obtain of stones of the same kind from Ceylon, the East and 

 "West Indies, Brazil, and Peru. Here are three diamonds, two from 

 Beechworth and the third from Collingood flat. I am enabled, by the 

 kindness of Mr. Crisp, of Queen-street, to exhibit the latter to-night. It 

 was found in the gravel spread on a small garden walk in the lower 

 part of Collingwod, the gravel having been obtained either from North- 

 cote or just above Johnston-street bridge. It is small, but even a small 

 diamond is a great fact. The diamond which Mr. Munay has brought 

 is the largest yet found ; it weighed in the rough above three carats ; 

 it now weighs a little less than two, and is, as you can all see, a magni- 

 ficent gem. It was sent to Amsterdam to be cut, and has quite recently 

 been returned to its owner here. Its fair value I take to be from £35 

 to £40. I may remark that all the Beechworth diamonds that I have 

 seen (about a dozen) were beautifully distinct in their crystallographic 

 features. With regard to the price of diamonds, I have copied the fol- 

 lowing from the most recent work I could obtain — Bristow's Glossary of 

 Mineralogy, 1861 : — "Diamonds are wu'ghed in carats (151^ of which 



