GEOLOGY. 325 



so hard that it could neither be filed nor sawed, but was very brittle. Its 

 fracture was granular; it took a high polish, and showed beautiful Widmann- 

 statt's figures when acted upon by nitric acid. By treatment with acids it 

 evolves sulphureted hydrogen, and hydrogen of bad odor exactly like inferior 

 cast iron. At first iron alone is dissolved, and a black matter consisting of 

 minute crystals is left behind, which eventually dissolves, and a black powder, 

 which proved to be carbon, floats through the fluid, while, in place of the 

 fragment of the iron, a gray porous mass amounting to 1 or 2 per cent, of the 

 stone is left. It contained iron, 93*39 ; nickel, 1*56; cobalt, 0'25; copper, 

 0-45; sulphur, 0*67; phosphorus, 0*18 ; carbon, 1*69; silicon, 0*38 ; total, 

 98-57. 



Besides these there are found metals of the alumina group (with oxyds solu- 

 ble in caustic alkalies), of the Zinconia group (with oxyds insoluble in alka- 

 lies, but precipitated from their salts by sulphate of potash), and of the Yttria 

 group (oxyds insoluble in alkalies, soluble in carbonate of ammonia, and not 

 precipitated by sulphate of potash). The two latter groups, which have not 

 been previously found in meteorites, form the principal part of the undissolved 

 gray porous mass, but their quantity is so small that the author has been un- 

 able to determine with certainty what members of these groups are present. 

 The crystalline grains, which are less soluble than the rest of the mass, con- 

 sist of iron and carbon, with small quantities of sulphur and phosphorus. 

 Although it is difficult, if not impossible, to stop the solution at the proper 

 point, so as to insure this substance being pure, Forchammer has made two 

 analysis, and found 11*06 and 7*23 per cent, of carbon. A carbonate of iron 

 having the formula Fea C, would contain 9 '6 6 per cent, of carbon, and this is 

 probably its constitution. Its specific gravity is 7*172. This meteoric iron 

 belongs to a very rare variety, and contains so large a quantity of carbon that 

 it may be called meteoric cast iron. That found in Greenland by Parry, as 

 well as another specimen mentioned by Forchammer were perfectly malleable. 

 Poggendorffs Annalen, vol. 93, p. 155. 



NEW METEORITES. 



Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, hi a communication to Sillimari's Journal, describes 

 several meteorites not before examined : 



The first is a meteorite from Tazewell County, Tennessee, of the weight of 

 55 pounds. It was not seen to fall, but was found in plowing. A section 

 of it, when heated with nitric acid, displayed the "Widmannstattean figures 

 most beautifully. Its composition was iron 83 '02, nickel 14*62, with small 

 proportions of copper, cobalt, phosphorus, chlorine, silica, sulphur, and mag- 

 nesia. An examination of the mass led to the discovery of small particles of 

 Schreibersite disseminated through it. This mineral is a phosplmret of iron 

 and nickel, and is one of the most interesting substances associated with 

 meteoric bodies. It resembles very closely magnetic iron pyrites, and Dr. 

 Smith expresses an opinion that much of the so-called magnetic pyrites, as- 

 sociated with meteoric iron, will not, upon examination, be found to contain 

 a trace of sulphur. In several meteorites examined by him this has proved 



