AKNTVEKSARY ADDKESS. 47 



of ■ chromate of iron,' recommending them strongly, in order to 

 avoid all confusion between the sites which are close together on 

 Mont d'Or, always to try the mineral before taking it away. 

 However it happens, is it not singular that they rest on this error 

 committed by persons evidently but little initiated in the know- 

 ledge of minerals not only for invalidating my discovery, but 

 besides for claiming it themselves ? 



" If we pass on to the Nickel, it will be, I think, as easy to 

 demonstrate that the priority in finding it belongs to me. I have 

 recorded this in my journal : — * 24th September, 1864, continuing 

 to ascend the river of Dumbea .... the rocks' which I 

 meet with are little variable, they are Amphibolitic and often 

 hold chromate of iron. The rock is also accompanied by a green 

 matter which sticks to the surface — Nickel. Moreover it was 

 one of the first steps in the country to announce nickel. I sent 

 specimens of it to the Eev "W. B. Clarke, as he has had the 

 goodness to state in his letter. I did not theu give the descrip- 

 tions, waiting for the definite work which I could only make in 

 a place where I could be aided by the light of clever experiments, 

 and also with instruments for investigation which I lacked in the 

 Colony. It was Mons. Jannettaz, Mineralogist at the Museum, 

 who was so good as to analyze this green substance, which was 

 thought might also be chrome in a certain condition — the oxidiz- 

 ing salt — if we might judge from the abundance of chromate of 

 iron in all the rocks — the analysis of Mons. Januettaz gave me 

 satisfaction. It was really that of Nickel ; and I was then able 

 to say in my ' Geology of New Caledonia,' p. 85 (1867) :— ' It- 

 would be highly interesting to study more completely the deposits 

 of Nickel,' &c. [Already quoted.] 



" In 1869 I again wrote : — ' The serpentines, and in a general 

 way of the rest, all the rocks which accompany them are often 

 covered with a coating of beautiful green, which is nothing but 

 silicate of Nickel, alumina, and magnesia. . . . The Nickel 

 in this condition is so abundant that we ought to hope to find 

 one day a workable deposit of it.' [Bulletin de V Industrie 

 Minerale,p. 301, tome XY.] 



