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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2018
The untimely death of Sir John B. Harrison on February 8, 1926, just as he was returning home after over forty-six years' service in the West Indian colonies; unfortunately prevented the publication by him of a complete account of the interesting new mineral which, as a result of much patient chemical work, he had discovered in British Guiana. As he had corresponded with me on this matter since April, 1924, and further, as this is the same mineral that I had myself erroneously described as 'allopalladium', I feel it my duty to place on record the full facts so far as can now be ascertained.
I had suggested that the new mineral might be named after Sir John Harrison, but this he objected to ; and, in consultation with the Governor of British Guiana, he proposed the name potarite (letter of April 8, 1925), but he did not himself record this name in print.
page 397 note 1 SirHamson, John Burchmore (1856-1926). Obituary notices in Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., 1927, vol. 38, pp. 45–52 Google Scholar, with portrait and bibliography; and Min. Mag., 1927, vol. 21, p. 234.
page 397 note 2 Spencer, L. J., Allopalladium from British Guiana. Min. Mag., 1924, vol. 20, pp. 217–219 Google Scholar.
page 398 note 1 Bull. Soc. Franc. Min., 1926, vol. 49, p. 5.
page 398 note 2 Cambridge University Reporter, March 17, 1926, vol. 56, p. 778.
page 398 note 3 Report of the United States National Museum for the year ended June 30, 1926, 1927, pp. 84, 130.
page 398 note 4 London, [1926], pp. 6, 7 [Min. Abstr., vol. 3, p. 438]. From this source the name potarite appeared in Bull. Imp. Inst. London, 1927, vol. 24 (for 1926), p. 776 (compare also p. 767).
page 398 note 5 Kunz, G. P., Mineral Industry, New York, 1927, vol. 35 (for 1926), p. 548 Google Scholar.
page 398 note 6 Journ. Chem. Soc. London, 1925, vol.128, Abstracts, pt. ii, pp. 592 593; (chem. News., London, 1925, vol. 131, pp. 88-89). 1926, vol. 132, p. 124; Chem. Abstr. (Amer. Chem. Soc), 1925, vol. 19, p. 3075; Amer. Min., 1925. vol. 10. p. 333; Min. Abstr., 1926, vol. 3, p. 4.
page 399 note 1 The famous Kaieteur falls have a vertical drop of 741 feet, nearly five times the height of Niagara.
page 399 note 2 Spencer, L. J., Euclase and platinum from diamond-washings in British Guiana. Min. Mag., 1924, vol. 20, pp. 186-192 Google Scholar.
page 399 note 3 The locality of the specimen sent to the Paris museum is given as Amu creek (Bull. Soc. Franç. Min.. 1926. vol. 49, p. 5).
page 399 note 4 A similar occurrence of cinnabar in laterite has recently been described from Dutch Guiana by Palaohe, C., Ainer. Min., 1927, vol. 12, p. 188 Google Scholar [Min. Abstr., vol. 3, p. 859].
page 402 note 1 J. Berzelius, Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. Handl. Stockholm, 1813, p. 205; translations in Journ. Chem. u. Physik (Schweigger). 1818, vol. 7. p. 67, and Annales de Ghimie, 1813, vol. 87, p. 189. This amalgam contained 0.7277 gr. of palladium and 0-7277 gr. of mercury [50-7 %]; of the latter, 0-112 gr. was lost over a spirit-lamp, and 0-C157 gr. during exposure for ½ hour to the highest white-heat.
page 403 note 1 He remarked that a fibrous structure has sometimes been described for the Brazilian native palladium, and he suggested that some of this might possibly be potarite.
page 403 note 2 Min. Abstr., 1926, vol. 3, p. 5.
page 405 note 1 A small medallion (3 x 2-2 cm. ; 11-56 grams) of selenium, showing in relief a bust of Berzelius, came into the British Museum collection at about that time.
page 405 note 2 O. Luedecke (Die Minerale des Harzes. Berlin, 1896, p. 6) also gives Zorgo an a locality for allopalladium, but on what authority is not stated.
page 405 note 3 C. Zincken, Ueber das Palladium im Herzogthura Anhalt-Bernburg. Ann. Phys. Chem. (Poggendorff), 1829, vol. 16, pp. 491-498. Abridged translation : C. Zinken, Sur le palladium trouvé dans le duché de Anhalt-Bernburg. Ann. Chim. Phys., 1830, ser. 2, vol. 44, pp. 206-218. The amount of palladium is not stated, but of several beads, one used for determining the specific gravity weighed 1-849 grams.
page 405 note 4 A somewhat similar case is giveii by the presence of traces of palladium in the nickel-copper ores of Sudbury in Ontario ; this being the chief commercial source of the metal at the present day. But in this case the form in which the palladium occurs is not yet known.
page 405 note 5 J. Berzelius, Jahres-Bericht iiber die Fortschritte der Physischen Wissenschaften (German translation by F. Wöhler;). 1832, vol. 11, p. 202.
page 405 note 1 C. Zincken. Berg. und Hüttenm. Zeitung, 1842, vol. 1, col. 400. The name Eugenesite he had published the previous year in Ber. Naturwiss. Ver. des Harzes for 1840-41, col. 5.
page 405 note 2 The large collection of treatises and text-books on descriptive mineralogy, almost complete in all editions, in the Library of the Mineral Department of the British Museum, is arranged chronologically, and so facilitates historical research.
page 405 note 3 Rose, G., Ueber die Dimorphie des Palladiums. Ann. Phya. Chem. (Poggendorff), 1842, vol. 55, pp. 829–831 Google Scholar.
