[April, 
2§4 Scientific Notes. 
profitably at great depths. The total quantity of gold exported and minted in 
the colony from the date of the first d scovery to December 31st, 1875 is 
45J millions of ounces, valued at 182 millions of pounds sterling. Tin ranks 
next for £333,870, after which comes antimony for £104,865. Silver only 
shows for £14,617, copper for £8331, lead for £4700, iron for £2101, and coal 
for £8233, for the whole period to the end of 1875, showing that the mineral 
wealth of Victoria is to be found almost entirely in its gold-mines. Not a 
single ton of coal was either raised or exported during the year 1875, the imports 
of that article amounting to 214,000 tons. 
“ The Reports of the Mining Surveyors and Registrars for the Quarter ending 
March 31st, 1876,” give the gold-mining statistics ofthe colony for the first quar- 
ter of the present year, and show the yield of gold from parcels of quartz raised 
during the quarter from some of the deepest mines in Vi&oria, the depth of the 
shaft &c., the estimated yield and quantity extracted, the gold received at and 
issued from the Royal Mint, the yield of gold from quartz and tailings, as well 
as from washing operations, and the number and distribution of miners on the 
gold-fields. The coin issued from the Melbourne Board of the Royal Mint 
during the quarter has been 124,046*53 ozs., besides 1,100*914 ozs. of gold 
bullion. 
We have received an interesting little brochure on the minerals of New 
South Wales from the pen of Prof. Liversidge, who holds the chair of miner- 
alogy in the University of Sydney. The author gives additional description 
of the minerals found in New South Wales, with their chemical composition 
and the localities in which they are found. In the account of the different 
gold-fields an important statement is made with respedt to the first discovery 
of gold in Australia, which is worthy of record. It seems that, according to 
the “ Evening News,” of Sydney, for August 7th, 1875, that gold was discovered 
and officially reported to the Government of the day on February 16th, 1823, 
by the Assistant Surveyor, James McBrian, at a spot on the Fish River, about 
fifteen miles east of Bathurst. Mr. McBrian’s field book is preserved in the 
Surveyor General’s office, and contains the following entry : — “ February 16th, 
1823. At 81*50 to river and marked gum tree. At this place I found numerous 
particles of gold in the sand and on the hills convenient to the river.” The 
use of the word “convenient” in conjunction with the worthy Assistant- 
Surveyor’s patronymic seems to show that the first discoverer of gold in 
Australia was an Irishman. The knowledge of the discovery seems to have 
been suppressed, owing to the peculiar social condition of the colony at the 
time. The same thing was done when Count Stozelecki, in 1839, an d the 
Rev. W. B. Clark exhibited specimens of gold to members of the Legislature 
of those periods. * 
Mr. Frederick Field, F.R.S., thus describes a Cornish mineral which is quite 
new to mineralogical science. “ Its crystallisation appears to be rhombic; it 
is transparent and brilliant, of a clear green colour ; hardness about 3*5. It is 
perfectly soluble in dilute hydrochloric acid, forming a nearly colourless solu- 
tion. On heating a little over ioo° C., the crystals lose water, and at a low red 
heat at once become brilliantly black. They decrepitate strongly. Analysis 
proved the existence of phosphoric acid, ferrous oxide, and water in the pro- 
portions that would lead to the formula 3Fe0,P 2 05, 4 H20. From the great 
scarcity of the mineral only small quantities can be obtained for analysis, and 
this brief description must be regarded merely as a preliminary note on a 
mineral of great beauty and interest.” 
A meteoric iron, very rich in nickel, found in the province of Santa Catarina 
(Brazil) has been analysed by MM. Guignet and G. Ozorio de Almeida. The 
specimen contained 36 per cent of nickel, and is free from chrome, cobalt, 
manganese, and copper; neither is it mixed with any earthy gangue. 
In a paper on Russian platinum-ore from the Oural Mountains, Mr. Sergius 
Kern, of St. Petersburg, says that considerable quantities of platinum-ore are 
every year mined in Nishni-Tagil and Goroblagodatsky districts on the Oural 
Mountains. The platinum-ore of these districts contain notable quantities of 
