432 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



A fragment of the iron was treated with hydrochloric acid. The solution went on very slowly and unattended by 

 the extrication of any sulphuretted hydrogen. The solution proceeded so slowly that it required nearly three days to 

 dissolve 26.5 grs. of the iron, although the process of digestion was several times hastened by the application of a gentle 

 heat. The acid left behind 1 .16 grs. of undissolved matter in the form of innumerable brilliant crystalline scales of an 

 iron-gray color and a high metallic luster. When washed and dried they were found to be flexible, highly magnetic, 

 and insoluble by hydrochloric acid, but were readily attacked by hot nitric acid, though still leaving undissolved a few 

 particles of another metallic species, supposed to be the Partschite, and which were finally taken up by digestion in 

 warm aqua regia. The thin crystalline scales undoubtedly consist of the schreibersite (of Patera). 



From the hydrochloric solution a precipitate was obtained (by means of a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen) which, 

 after washing and reduction before the blowpipe, yielded metallic copper. A solution of the perchlorid was precipi- 

 tated by ammonia and the peroxyd of iron thus obtained was ignited with nitrate of potassa, when its solution gave 

 decisive evidence of the presence of chromic acid. 



The proportion of nickel obtained from the iron (without including the -schreibersite and partschite) was 12.10 to 

 13.05 per cent, thus placing the present meteorite, as regards the high proportion of nickel, in the rank of the following 

 rather small number of meteoric irons, viz, that of Caille, which has 17.37; of Claiborne, Alabama, which has 12.66; 

 of Greene County, Tennessee, 14.7; of Krasnoyarsk, 10.7; of Bitburg, 11.9; and of Cape Colony, Africa, 12.27. 



I have abstained from a complete analysis of the present iron, as Prof. J. Lawrence Smith is, as I understand, about 

 to publish full results of this nature. 



The following is an abstract from Professor Mitchell's letter in reference to its discovery: "This meteorite was 

 found April, 1853, about 10 miles west of Tazewell, Claiborne County, Tennessee. It was discovered by a son of 

 William Rogers while plowing in clayey ground on the side of a hill where the soil had been much washed away by rains. 

 His attention was arrested by the resistance and noise produced when the mass was struck by the plow. The lump 

 weighed about 60 pounds. It was very irregular in its shape. The period of its fall is of course unknown. On account 

 of its weight and luster it was regarded as silver and it was with no small difficulty that the finder was induced to part 

 with it, even by my paying him what appeared to be an equivalent and then agreeing to give him its weight in silver 

 provided it should prove to be that metal when properly examined. For my first information of the iron I am indebted 

 to J. C. Ramsay, Esq., a gentleman who, not limiting his researches to the mere details of his profession, loses no oppor- 

 tunity of contributing to several branches of natural history. I retain a fragment of about 6 ounces which he first gave 

 me for examination. The remainder of a mass was broken when I saw it into two pieces, one of which, weighing perhaps 

 3£ pounds, I send to you. The largest portion I transferred as I informed you to an acquaintance for examining and 

 reporting upon the same. These three embrace all the pieces into which this meteorite has been divided." 



Smith's 3 later description was as follows : 



This meteorite was placed in my possession through the kindness of Prof. J. B. Mitchell, of Knoxville, in the month 

 of August, 1853. It was found by a son of Mr. Rogers, living in that neighborhood, while engaged in plowing a hillside; 

 his attention was drawn to it by its sonorous character. As it very often happens among the less informed, it was sup- 

 posed to be silver, or to contain a large portion of that metal. With some difficulty the mass was procured by Professor 

 Mitchell and passed over to me. Nothing could be ascertained as to the time of its fall. It is stated among the people 

 living near where the meteorite was found that a light had been often seen to emanate from and rest upon the hill — a 

 belief that may have had its foundation in the observed fall of this body. 



The weight of this meteorite was 55 pounds. It is of a flattened shape with numerous conchoidal indentations 

 and three annular openings passing through the thickness of the mass near the outer edge. Two or three places on the 

 surface are flattened, as if other portions were attached at one time but had been rusted off by a process of oxidation 

 that has made several fissures in the mass so as to allow portions to be detached by the hammer, although when the metal 

 is sound the smallest fragment could not be thus detached, it being both hard and tough. Its dimensions are such that 

 it will just lie in a box 13 inches long, 11 inches broad, and 5J inches deep. The accompanying figure gives a correct 

 idea of the appearance of this meteorite. 



The exterior is covered with oxide of iron in some places so thin as hardly to conceal the iron, in other places a 

 quarter of an inch deep. Its hardness is so great that it is almost impossible to detach portions by means of a saw. Its 

 color is white, owing to the large amount of nickel present, and a polished surface, when acted on by hot nitric acid, 

 displays in a most beautifully regular manner the Widmannstattian figures. The specific gravity, taken on three frag- 

 ments selected for their compactness and purity, is from 7.88 to 7.91. 



The following minerals have been found to constitute this meteorite: 1. Nickeliferous iron, forming nearly the 

 entire mass. 2. Protosulphuret of iron, found in no inconsiderable quantity on several parts of the exterior of the 

 mass. 3. Schreibersite, found more or less mixed with the pyrites and in the crevices of the iron, in pieces from the 

 thickness of the blade of a penknife to that of the minutest patricles. 4. Olivine; two or three very small pieces of 

 this mineral have been found in the interior of the iron. 5. Protochloride of iron; this mineral has been found in 

 this meteorite in the solid state, which I believe is the first observation of this fact; it was found in a crevice that 

 had been opened by a sledge hammer, and in the same crevice schreibersite was found. Chloride of iron is also found 

 deliquescing on the surface; some portions of the surface are entirely free from it, while others again are covered with 

 an abundance of rust arising from its decomposition. 



Besides the above minerals, two others were found — one a siliceous mineral, the other in minute rounded black 

 particles; both, however, were in too small quantity for anything like a correct idea to be formed of their composition. 



< 



