424 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



No. 1, upon the principal cut surface, narrow well-defined bands of alternate nickel iron and schreibereite are parallel 

 to or intersect each other at angles of about 60° and 120° ; in the figures on the principal surface of No 2 the angles of 

 intersection more nearly approach 90°; on the much smaller cut surface of No. 3 the figures are somewhat more irregular 

 but the angles approach 60°. By etching surfaces obtained in other planes it was rendered evident that the difference 

 of appearance is merely due to looking at different projections of the same crystalline structure. 



The metal soon rusts upou cut surfaces, especially where the exudation of chlorine occurs, and thiB renders more 

 distinctly visible the slight fissures which penetrate the interior. 



The iron is not passive, though very easily rendered so by nitric acid. It reduces copper rather slowly from the 

 sulphate, and if the whole surface be covered by the latter metal and then washed under a stream of water, rubbing 

 hard with the hand or a cloth, a part of the copper comes off very easily, leaving the remainder very firmly attached 

 and reproducing very beautifully the Widmannstatten figures; obviously a case of galvanic deposition, the schreibersite 

 being the electronegative solid and receiving the coating of copper. By the prolonged action of acid delicate white 

 lamina? of schreibereite are brought into view, which if completely detached are found flexible and strongly magnetic. 



The following are the results of chemical analysis: 



These numbers are so closely accordant that there can be no doubt of the masses being essentially identical in 

 chemical composition. The nickel and iron were separated in a cold and quite dilute solution by means of carbonate 

 of baryta, and the precipitates obtained were carefully tested as to purity before the weights were finally accepted as 

 correct. Considerable quantities of material were used for the determination of the minor constituents. Particular 

 attention was given to the identification of the minute quantity of tin present, as Prof. J. Lawrence Smith has lately 

 mentioned the fact that he has never found this metal in the course of numerous analyses of meteoric iron. The pre- 

 cipitate with sulphureted hydrogen, which contained the tin and the copper, was in each case obtained from a solution ■ 

 of more than a hundred grams of the iron. I feel satisfied that the chlorine is not of meteoric origin — not an essential 

 constituent of the original masses — but has been derived from the soil in which the iron has lain embedded. 



The exudation of watery drops containing metallic chlorides is observable only at points on the outside and on cut 

 surfaces along the lines of fissures communicating with the outside. Although chlorine is mentioned above as found 

 in the general analysis of the planing-machine shavings, I failed altogether to detect it in a specially selected solid 

 piece taken from a part of No. 1 destitute of fissures or flaws. 



The siliceous residue is set down as silicic acid, but some of it seems to have in reality existed as silicide of iron. 

 A part of this residue having been examined with the plowpipe to identify it as silicic acid, another portion was looked 

 at with a magnifying power of 250 to 500 diameters, and in polarized light it was seen to consist of an amorphous powder 

 and rounded transparent grains of very small dimensions, for the most part from 0.0025 to 0.0100 mm. in diameter of 

 well-marked doubly-refracting character. 



It seems in the highest degree probable that these three masses represent portions of a single fall from the heavens, 

 agreeing so closely as they do in external character and appearance, in density and internal structure, and in chemical 

 constitution, having all been found, moreover, at but short distances from each other. The precise localities from 

 which they came are as follows: 



No. 1, from a spot on the land of Mr. Robert Van Lear, about 5 miles (a little east of) north from Staunton, latitude 

 38° 14' N., and longitude 79° V W. 



No. 2, from the land of Mr. M. Fackler, about 1 mile to the southeast of the locality of No. 1. 



No. 3, about half a mile still farther southeast, or rather a little north of a northwest and southeast line passing 

 through the last-named locality. 



It will be interesting to watch for the possible detection of other masses in the same neighborhood. 



The next year Mallet 2 made a determination of the gases from the meteorites as follows : 

 Analysis of gases occluded in Augusta County meteorite: 



Portion 

 A 



Hydrogen 22. 12 



Carbonic oxide 15. 99 



Carbonic anhydride 7.85 



Nitrogen 6. 06 



52. 02 24. 11 23. 87 100. 00 



Careful analysis of the gaa yielded the above results by volume for the three portions separately collected. The 

 fourth column of figures, obtained by summing up the three which precede it, gives the percentage composition of the 

 whole of the gaseous matter extracted from the iron. 



Other gases were tested for but none could be found. No free oxygen could be detected nor any compound of 

 oxygen and hydrogen. 



