MINERALOGY. 163 



scribes the method of occurrence of the iron very fully (he 

 had twice visited the locality), and shows conclusively that 

 the doubts that have been expressed in regard to the mete- 

 oric character of the iron were well founded, and that the 

 iron is most certainly of terrestrial origin. The presence 

 of the iron in the basalt is explained by the supposition 

 that it has in part been brought up Avith the basalt, and 

 in part formed subsequently in it by a process of deoxida- 

 tion through organic matter. In support of the latter view, 

 the writer mentions that with the native iron in the basalt, 

 both at Aussuk and Ovifak, occurs a considerable amount 

 of graphite. 



It is interesting to note in this connection, though having 



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nothing to do with meteorites, that Mr. G. W. Hawes has 

 shown that native iron occurs in grains distinguishable un- 



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der the microscope in the labradorite rock from the Wash- 

 ington River, in the White Mountains. 



Of the meteorites which have been described during the 

 past year, several deserve especial mention. M. Daubree has 

 described a meteoric stone which fell at Feid-Chair, province 

 of Constantine, Algiers. The fall was accompanied by a loud 

 noise, and the stone struck with such violence as to bury it- 

 self in the earth to a depth of nearly one hundred feet. It 

 proved to belong to the class of meteorites which contain 

 but little iron, the mass being made up of gray doubly-re- 

 fracting silicates probably chrysolite and enstatite. The 

 same author has also published an analysis of a new mete- 

 oric iron from Santa Catarina, Brazil. It is remarkable for 

 containing a larger amount of nickel (34 per cent.) than any 

 other iron which has been described. It exhibited fine Wid- 

 mannstattean figures, contains niccoliferous magnetic pyr- 

 ites and graphite, and is covered with a thin but firm crust 

 of crystallized magnetite. 



A most interesting meteorite fell on the 21st of December, 

 1876, at Rochester, Fulton County, Ind. The meteor, or bo- 

 lide, of which it was a part was observed in many places in 

 the West in its passage eastward over the states of Kansas, 

 Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. In the words of Dr. 

 Smith, "the pyrotechnic display is said to have been tran- 

 scendently beautiful, hardly equalled or surpassed by any 

 previous occurrence of the kind." It w T as described as a 



