32 Description and Analysis 



to the manufacture of nitrous acid. And there is reason 

 to believe that the ignition of charcoal and potash, and 

 their exposure to water, may be advantageously applied to>- 

 thc production of volatile alkali, in countries where fuel is 

 cheap. 



[To be continued.] 



V. Description and Analysis of the Meteoric Stone which 

 Jell at IVestony in North America, the 4th December 

 1807. By David Bailie Warden, Esq, Consul-, 

 general of the United States at Paris *. 



DESCRIPTION. 



JL his aerolite presents, in general, the same characters as 

 those hitherto examined. It is enveloped with a thin, 

 black, and uneven crust. The mass is principally com* 

 posed of a granular substance, which breaks easily; it has 

 an earthy appearance and a gray cinereous colour, which, 

 in certain parts, passes to a whitish gray. 



Those portions which possess this last tint, and which are 

 as if glued in the mass, have a round form, so that they 

 are distinguished by circular or oval spots which interrupt 

 the general colour. Its specific gravity is about 3*3 ; the 

 sharp parts cut glass. 



In observing the fractured parts of the stone, we there 

 perceive : 1°. Particular globules which are easily detached; 

 little cells in which they are placed, and of which the sub- 

 stance is like that of the stone itself, except that its grain 

 is more compact, and its fracture smoother. 



In exposing it to a strong light, we see traces of a la- 

 mellar tissue : 2°. grains of metallic iron, which, by polish, 

 assume a whiteness, yield to the hammer, and attract very 

 sensibly the magnetic needle : 3°. grains of oxided iron of 

 the colour of rust : 4°. metallic particles extremely small, 

 of a silver white colour, which seem to be of iron ; and 

 this opinion is strengthened, when we recollect that the 

 native iron of Kamerdorf, and that of pseudo-volcanic 

 origin, present, in certain parts, a silver white colour. 



I have not seen any mark of sulphurated iron, although 

 I found it by the analysis, as will hereafter appear. 



All the fragments of this stone have a magnetic property, 

 but without polarity ; and the iron, which is very visible in 

 certain parts, is so disseminated in all others where it 

 escapes the eye, that the property of which there is ques- 



* From Annates de Chimie oi March 18 10, 



