406 H. G. SMITH. 
NOTE on THE RESINOUS EARTH OCCURRING at THE 
HEAD oF tHE NAMBUCOA RIVER, N.S. WALES. 
By HEwnRyY G. SMITH, F.C.S. 
[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, September 4, 1918. ] 
DURING the last few years instances have been recorded 
of the occurrence, in more than one locality in New South 
Wales, of an earthy substance which readily burns when a 
lighted match is applied to it. It has also been noticed 
that in the neighbourhood of this peculiar earth, water 
often shows iridescent films upon the surface. Peculiarities 
such as these are commonly thought to be due to the 
presence of oily substances, and naturally the idea has 
arisen that possibly petroleum oil may occur in close prox- 
imity to these readily ignitible earths. Natural liquid 
petroleum supplies would, of course, be of the greatest 
value to Australia, so that the question has considerable 
fascination for some people. If the material, the subject 
of this note, is representative of that found in the other 
localities in New South Wales, then the supposition that 
its presence is an indication of petroleum oil must be 
abandoned. 
Investigation of the ignitible earth from the head of the 
Nambucca River shows it to be of organic origin; of this 
there seems to be little doubt for the following reasons :— 
1. The ignitible substance is a resin. 
2. The residue after removal of the resin by alcohol 
contains a fair amount of nitrogenous products, the 
nitrogen being evolved as ammonia on heating with 
soda-lime, 
3. Phosphoric acid is present in some quantity in the 
ash. 
4, Benzoic acid can be obtained in small amount from 
the material by sublimation. 
