Throughout the nineteenth century, Britain remained hungry for minerals to fuel her industrial and economic growth. Archibald Liversidge (1846 1927) found his knowledge and research to be in high demand. He had studied at the Royal College of Chemistry, and then obtained an exhibition to Cambridge, where he founded the Cambridge University Natural Sciences Club. At just twenty-seven years old Liversidge was appointed Reader in Geology at the University of Sydney, where he revolutionized the study of minerals and their potential applications. First published in 1876, and reprinted here from...