368 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



There can be no reasonable doubt that the huge masses of malleable iron from Louisiana are of meteoric origin, and thus 

 their history is rendered extremely interesting. All who have seen them in situ agree that they appear to have been 

 deposited in consequence of Bome extraordinary natural occurrence and that it is impossible they should be the product 

 of art. The similar composition of the various masses of malleable iron which have been found in different parts of the 

 world , on or just beneath the surface of the earth , affords almost decisive proof of their common origin . The experiments 

 mentioned in the notice quoted from Doctor Bruce would indicate that the large mass in New York forms an excep- 

 tion to this similarity of composition, but experiments instituted more recently by Professor Silliman and stated by 

 Colonel Gibbs in the notice already alluded to, have detected nickel in this mass. There is much reason to believe, 

 therefore, that it had a common origin with numerous other masses found in various places and containing malleable 

 iron and nickel, some of which are known to have proceeded from meteors. 



Skepard * gave in 1829 a detailed description of his analysis of the meteorite which yielded: 



Fe Ni 



90.020 9.674 =99.694 



From the similarity in composition to the meteorite of Santa Rosa he concluded that "they 

 were derived from one and the same meteorite which traversed the atmosphere of our planet in a 

 direction lengthwise of the American Continent." He also gives a determination of the specific 

 gravity as 7.543. 



Notice of the gift of the meteorite to Yale College and dimensions of the mass were given 

 in the American Journal of Science in 1835, 5 as follows: 



The history of this iron has been given in this journal. 3 The first notice of it was published in Doctor Brace's Journal 

 in 1810 and it was there stated that it contained no nickel; a subsequent examination by Professor Silliman detected 

 that metal, and a more exact analysis by Mr. Charles U. Shepard 4 ascertained the existence of 9.67 per cent of nickel 

 in this very remarkable mass. It was for many years deposited in trust in the Museum of the Lyceum of New York 

 by the late Colonel Gibbs, who had early purchased the specimen. That gentleman's lamented death was mentioned 

 in the American Journal of Science, vol. 25, p. 214. Recently his respected lady, Mrs. Laura Gibbs, with the appro- 

 bation of those concerned, has generously presented this magnificent mass to the cabinet of mineralogy of Yale College, 

 thus causing it to be associated with the splendid collection, the Gibbs Cabinet, which was amassed by the labor and 

 munificence of him whose name it bears and to whose memory we trust it will long continue to do honor. In this 

 collection, unrivaled in the United States and surpassed in few other countries, the meteoric iron of Louisiana is, 

 without doubt, the most important specimen. 



A more particular notice of it may be given on another occasion. Its length is 3 feet 4.5 inches, its greatest breadth 

 2 feet 4 inches, and its greatest height 16 inches. Its weight is 1,635 pounds, being more than that of the mass found by 

 Professor Pallas in Siberia which is now in the Imperial Museum at St. Petersburg. 



The Gibbs meteoric iron is, therefore, the largest piece in any collection in the world, although there are masses 

 many times larger lying in the wild regions of Mexico and Peru and perhaps elsewhere. 



Shepard 6 quotes an observation of the artisan, Mr. Abbot, who polished the face of the 

 mass at Yale College, to the effect that in the process of polishing the dust abraded, especially 

 when rendered pasty by oil or water, arranged itself in lines resembling the outline of mountain 

 ranges. Shepard ascribes this to lines of magnetic iron in the mass and stated that he found 

 by solution of the Texas iron that it contained magnetic oxide of iron. 



Partsch 7 describes several pieces in the Vienna collection as hard compact iron mixed with 

 pyrrhotite, showing complete, finely striated Widmannstatten figures on etching ; on fracture 

 showing a foliated structure. 



Silliman and Hunt 8 made a study of the meteorite, and gave their results as follows: 



After this mass was presented to the collection in Yale College by Mrs. Laura Gibbs (widow of Col. George Gibbs, 

 so well known to all cultivators of mineralogy), a portion of the smaller end was sawn off with much difficulty, which 

 when reduced to a smooth surface, gave a brilliantly polished face about 8 inches in diameter, on which is engraved 

 an inscription commemorative of Colonel Gibbs and the donor, and the weight of the mass, 1,635 pounds. This sec- 

 tion revealed in a very perfect manner the crystalline structure of the mass, by the broad octahedral cleavages which 

 appeared at one or two points where a fracture was made. By a planing machine, the surface of the portion which 

 was removed was rendered quite smooth and level, and after being well polished, it was washed with dilute nitric 

 acid. The lines of crystallization at once made their appearance in the most beautiful manner. The action of the 

 acid was continued until the lines were etched boldly enough to take ink and give an impression. The mass was so 

 imbedded in type metal as to be capable of passing the copper plate press, and the impressions were then taken, of 

 which the accompanying plate is one. This mode of proceeding, causes the iron to record its own crystalline char- 

 acter in the most faithful manner. This crystalline structure of metoeric iron is found in most but not in all the speci- 

 mens of such iron which have been examined. Those who have seen the work of Schreibers will remember the 

 beautiful structure of the Agram iron, and many others developed by the acids. The Alabama meteoric iron has, 



