3G4 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



glass. Barytic water being thrown into the tube, was instantly rendered 

 milky, thereby proving the existence of carbonic acid; and the subsequent 

 addition of hydrochloric acid, slowly caused the separation of the skeletons 

 from the glass, which led me to infer the presence of silica as a part of the 

 earthy residuum. The little bodies, however, were not annihilated by the 

 process ; but, greatly to my surprise, were easily seen, by the aid of a single 

 lens, still floating through the clear liquid, preserving in a great measure 

 their original form, with the exception only of being rendered here and 

 there transparent, as if about one-half of the black matter had been eaten 

 out and dissolved, leaving the remainder sufficiently connected to maintain 

 the original figure of the body. 



This is all that I have been able to ascertain concerning the origin, struc- 

 ture, and chemical composition of these singular bodies. They appear to 

 be inorganic, though composed in part of carbon. A large proportion of 

 earthy matter also enters into their composition. 



It will be remembered, perhaps, in this connection, that Berzelius detected 

 what appeared to him to be an organic residuum (resembling burnt hay) 

 in the French meteoric stone of Alais, that fell March 15, 1800; and bear- 

 ing more distinctly still upon our subject, are the highly interesting results 

 recently obtained by Prof. Wohler on the unknown substance of an organic 

 nature (resinous) in the meteoric stone of Kaba, Hungary, that fell April 

 15, 1857; and those again arrived at by Prof. E. P. Harris, in the Gottingen 

 laboratory, concerning the carbonaceous matter in the stone that fell Oct. 

 13, 1838, at Cape of Good Hope, a meteorite originally described by Sir 

 John Herschel and Prof. Faraday. Prof. Harris states, in his valuable 

 thesis on meteorites (Gottingen, 1859), that he finds a quarter per cent, of 

 bituminous matter in the Cape stone, which is soluble both in alcohol and 

 ether, and fusible in a glass tube over a spirit-lamp. It finally burns, with 

 a bituminous odor, and the deposition of carbon. 



Is the matter of the Charlseton shooting star analogous to that of the 

 Alais and the Cape meteoric stones ? And if so, may the more complete 

 combustion of its carbonaceous ingredient have been prevented by the hu- 

 mind state of the atmosphere at the time of its fall? These are questions 

 that naturally suggest themselves, but to which we are not in a condition to 

 return satisfactory replies at present.* 



It is reasonable, perhaps, to suppose that many aggregates of meteoric 

 matter such, for example, as those made up wholly of one or more of the 

 following meteoric elements: carbon, phosphorus, and sulphur would, 

 owing to their easy combustibility, burn out, even in the upper regions of 

 the atmosphere, and, being resolved into gaseous compounds, fail of trans- 

 mitting to the earth's surface any material proof of their existence. Others, 

 again, may not be recognized at the surface of the earth, owing to the dis- 

 persion of their oxides in the condition of an impalpable dust, or in solution 

 in water. But, however this may be, the facts seem thickening about us of 

 the occasional arrival out of the air of anomalous earthy bodies, whose 



* As having possibly a close connection with the subject in hand, may be men- 

 tioned, two instances recorded in Chladni's list of ancient meteorites. The first of 

 these refers to the fall at Rockhausen, near Erfort, July 5, 15S2, ( ?) during a frightful 

 tempest, of a large quantity of a fibrous substance, similar to hair. The second 

 occurred March 23, 1665, (?) at a place near Lancha, not far from Xaumburg, in 

 which case, the matter that fell was likewise fibrous, and resembled a bluish silk. It 

 was also abundant. 



