326 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



the case. Schreibersite is especially interesting from the fact that it has no 

 representative, either in genus or species, among terrestrial minerals. Al- 

 though among terrestrial minerals phosphates are found, not a single phosphuret 

 is known to exist. So true is this, that with our present knowledge, if any 

 one thing could prove more strongly than another the non-terrestrial origin of 

 any natural body, it would be the presence of this or some similar body. It 

 is commonly alluded to as a residue from the action of hydrochloric acid upon 

 meteoric iron, when in fact it exists in plates and fragments of some size in 

 almost all meteoric irons ; and there is some reason to believe it is never 

 absent from them in some form or other. What is meant by " some size" ia 

 that it is in pieces large enough to be seen by the naked eye, and be detached 

 mechanically. 



Dr. Smith also describes a meteorite weighing 4J ounces, found in Camp- 

 bell County, Tennessee ; the mass of meteoric iron belonging to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution at "Washington, brought from Coahuila, Mexico, and weigh- 

 ing 252 pounds, with two other meteorites now existing at Tucson and 

 Chihuahua, Mexico. The Tucson meteorite weighs 600 pounds, and consists 

 of nickeliferous iron 93-18, chrome iron 49, Schreibersite 84, olivine 5'06. 

 The meteorite of Chihuahua is still larger, and weighs 3,853 pounds. Silli- 

 man's Journal. 



Examination of a Supposed Meteorite. During the past year, at one of the 

 meetings of the Eoyal Society, Sir R. I. Murchison presented a specimen found 

 in the heart of an old willow-tree, and which was supposed to be a meteorite. 

 "When the specimen was first seen, its scoriaceous and peculiar aspect, when 

 coupled with the evidence of persons living on the spot, showing that the tree 

 was seriously blighted on one side in a storm which occurred about 16 years 

 ago, had led to the suspicion that it might be a meteorite, and when nickel, co- 

 balt, and manganese were detected in the metallic portions of the mass the sug- 

 gestion was strengthened. Professor Shepard, of Amherst College, United 

 States, who was in England, expressed his belief in the extraneous body being 

 a true meteorite, and it was under these circumstances that Sir Roderick 

 Murchison thought it right to have the matter thoroughly investigated. In- 

 dependently of the origin of the substance, the manner in which the tree had 

 grown round it was of deep interest to botanists. A chemical examination 

 by Dr. Percy has, however, almost conclusively proved that the substance 

 was simply a portion of slag ; for while fragments found on the ground (one 

 of them obviously a manufactured slag) contained nickel, cobalt, etc., as well 

 as the mass in the tree, it is the opinion of Dr. Percy that they can all be 

 paralleled with the known refuse of furnaces. This result will throw consider- 

 able doubt upon the origin of many so-called metallic meteorites, which, 

 though they have not been seen to fall, have had an extra mundane origin 

 assigned to them from their containing nickel, cobalt, etc. 



COAL FROM THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 



Mr. E. Merriam of Brooklyn, N. T., publishes the following notices of coal 

 obtained within the Arctic circle. The Hartstein Arctic Expedition visited 



