8 H. G. SMITH. 
is possible to extract the radium without having to decom- 
pose the whole of the mineral constituents in the ore, and 
when it is considered that the material treated contains 
only one part of the element radium in 214 million parts of 
ore, it is seen how intricate the process becomes, and how 
carefully the manufacture must be carried on. Under 
such conditions as maintain in this and similar ores, it is 
hardly to be expected that radium will ever be cheap, 
although even at its present price a lot of radium could be 
purchased for the cost of a modern battleship. 
When the mineral deposits of the little known portions 
of Australia shall be systematically prospected, it is very 
probable that more extensive deposits of radium bearing 
minerals will be discovered, and production thus increased. 
It is worthy of consideration, therefore, whether the needs 
of our own people are not sufficiently imperative to demand 
the retention in Australia of our own material, until home 
requirements are satisfied, even if the State finds it neces- 
sary also to undertake the manufacture of the radium 
itself, in order to augment the supply. ; 
_ Itis, however, the scientific aspect of this question which 
appeals more strongly to us, because we recognise that all 
such discoveries must result in increased stimulus to further 
physical and chemical researches. Weare only just on the 
threshold of the utilisation of minute quantities of matter, 
and the advantages of these, both in the animal and vege- 
table kingdoms, will be more and more brought out as 
research proceeds and satisfactory results accumulate. 
The Australian Antarctic Expedition under Dr. Douglas 
Mawson has now returned to Australia, having completed 
the work it set out to accomplish. This Society took 
advantage of the opportunity when the leader was in 
Sydney to tender to him a hearty welcome on his return to 
Australia, and the Society’s rooms on that. occasion were 
