Nicol Brown, British geologist and company director, resided in London. In 1895 he published a Sketch map of the Lydenburg district (scale 4 miles to the inch, or 1:253 440) in London, which seems to indicate that he visited the region. After studying information published in the Transactions of the Geological Society of South Africa and elsewhere, he prepared, while in London, a "theoretical" section of the formations in the Pilgrim's Rest area. Copies were sent to mining engineers in the district, to be compared against the outcrops on the Drakensberg escarpment and the gorge of the Blyde River. In this way he obtained additional information. Brown pointed out that the principal strata in the region are comparable to the Magaliesberg quartzites, the dolomites and Witwatersrand quartzites in the Pretoria-Johannesburg region. A brief note on this work, "The succession of rocks in the Pilgrim's Rest district", was read before the Geological Society of South Africa on 10 February 1896 (not necessarily by Brown himself), and was published in the society's Transactions (Vol. 2, pp. 3-4).

Brown's other works included a paper on "The necessity for competent geological surveys of gold mines" (Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, 1896), and books on The organization of gold mining business... (Glasgow, 1897); and A century of copper. Statistical review of the 19th century... (with C.C. Turnbull; London, 1906). He was a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and a member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (from 1898 to at least 1905). Locally he was a member of the Geological Society of South Africa from 1897 or earlier to at least 1914, and of the Chemical and Metallurgical Society of South Africa (from 1902 the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa) from 1897 to at least 1905..

List of sources:
Brittish Association for the Advancement of Science. Report of the seventy-fifth meeting... South Africa, 1905, list of members.

Geological Society of South Africa. Transactions, 1897, Vol. 2, paper by Brown; 1899, Vol. 4; 1906, Vol. 10; and 1915, Vol. 18: Lists of members.

Hall, A.L. Bibliography of South African Geology to the end of 1920. Pretoria: Geological Survey, Memoir No. 18, 1922.

Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa, 1904/5, Vol. 5, Members.

National Union Catalogue, pre-1956 imprints. London: Mansell, 1968-1980.

Royal Society of London. Catalogue of scientific papers [1800-1900]. London: Royal Society, 1867-1925.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2020-04-23 17:30:14