48 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 



" If we return to the letter which the Be v. "W. B. Clarke lias 

 been good enough to address to the Sydney Morning Herald on 

 this question, it will be seen that he was himself pre-oecupied 

 with this mineral belonging to our Colony, which I had previously 

 sent him unnamed ; but as he had also received from me, a little 

 after, my Geology of New Caledonia, it is still possible that it was 

 from that moment his curiosity was aroused, and that he caused 

 to be analyzed, as he now informs us, the specimen which he 

 possessed, which he communicated to the celebrated Professor 

 Dana of the United States, intended to be mentioned in his 

 next edition of his Mineralogy. 



" In any case, the composition of this mineral, which I indicate 

 above, ranges, as Mr. Clarke has made it, in the very numerous 

 family of Pimelites, Alipite, Chrysoprase earth, &c. # 



" But to return to the practical question. Since the time when 

 I noticed Nickel in my writings, the price of this metal has been 

 raised from 12 to 45 francs per kilo to actually fall in France to 

 about 35 francs • it was then that I very earnestly persuaded per- 

 sons at Paris interested in New Caledonia, to work the nickel 

 there ; and it was at that time also I had knowledge of trials, in 

 the true sense of the word, which were made in the country. I 

 will add that the high prices of nickel have immediately led to 

 the resolution of taking up again in Europe a quantity of mines 

 of this metal, which were abandoned as too poor, insomuch that 

 a certain reaction was to be feared, especially as the employment 

 of this metal is limited. Apart from its utilization as money in 

 America, in Germany, in Belgium, and in Saxony, nickel is con- 

 fined to the manufacture of incrustation of wood for arms, orna- 

 mental boxes, rich harness, &c. 



* Monsieur Gamier has fallen into an error here. I never received from 

 him his " Geology of New Caledonia" — and it was only in 1874 I sent the 

 specimens to Professor Dana which I received from Mr. Tully, of Newcastle, 

 in 1873 [M. Garnier's specimens are still in my possession] 5 and the analyses 

 I published were those of Dr. Leibius and of Professor Liversidge, to whom 

 we are indebted for a valuable paper read to the Royal Society in 1874. 



