E. MINERALOGY AND GEOLOGY. 225 



the piece, which belongs to the School of Mines at Freiburg, 

 is 173 pounds. It has recently been cut in two by the oper- 

 ation of fourteen steel saws, the cutting occupying two com- 

 plete months; the smaller of the two portions thus obtained, 

 weighing about forty-eight pounds, has been subjected to 

 chemical and other experiments. The area of the section 

 thus laid bare was about 100 square inches. Some small 

 pieces have been sold at such prices as to warrant the state- 

 ment that the entire mass, at the same rate of prices, should 

 be valued at about $5000. The suggestion is plausible that 

 the three meteors found at Rittersgrau, Steinbach, and Rei- 

 tenbach belonoj to one and the same meteor which fell in the 

 year 1164. _______ 



AN INTERESTING AEROLITE. 



In meteoric astronomy, a very suggestive note has been 

 published by J. Lawrence Smith. He states that the mass 

 of meteoric iron which fell on the 1st of August, 1835, near 

 Charlotte, Dixon County, Tenn., is one of exceeding interest, 

 as it is one of four cases of the fall of masses of iron free from 

 earthy matter. The meteor itself has been preserved in the 

 cabinet of Professor Troost for the past forty years. The 

 meteorite displays the Widmannstattian figures with ex- 

 quisite beauty, and also the marks to which Mr. Smith some 

 time ago gave the name of Laphamite figures. The gases 

 contained in this iron liave been examined by Professor 

 Wriorht, who attributes to it seventy-one per cent, of hydro- 

 gen, fifteen per cent, of carbonic oxide, and thirteen per cent, 

 of carbonic acid. The -meteorite does not appear to have 

 been heated in the atmosphere to a sufficient degree of in- 

 tensity to fuse the surface. On the whole, the specimen re- 

 ferred to is the most interesting piece of meteoric iron yet 

 known. 4 2>, X., 349. 



BORING FOR COAL. 



Siegert gives the details of a deep bore made at Chemnitz 

 in search of coal. Many previous attempts had been made 

 even at Chemnitz to develop coal strata. The present at- 

 tempt was made with a diamond borer, and was begun on 

 the 4th of November, 1874, and progressed at the rate of 

 2.85 meters per day. The cores as taken from the borer 



K2 



