444 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



In order to examine the inner structure, several specimens were cut open, also a piece that had formerly been 

 in an Indian oven, and which I had once more heated white hot; they all clearly showed Widmannstatten figures 

 intersecting at angles of 60°. One of the pieces showed, besides the figures, a peculiar design composed of two par- 

 allel strips 4 cm. long and 3 mm. wide, with fine teeth on the edges and rounded at the end. They resembled grapto- 

 lites. Similar peculiar divisions occur more frequently in an elongated mass of 1,201 grams, but they must be very 

 flat, since in the other side of the section the design is less distinct and runs in an entirely different direction. 



Reichenbach 18 gave the following observations: 



Through the efforts of Stein, Krantz, Schleiden, Burkart, Ordonez, and others, from 1784 down to the present 

 time, a series of meteoric iron masses came to Europe, mostly to Germany, from the valley of Toluca, in Mexico, under 

 the names Toluca, Tejupilco, Xiquipilco, Ixtlahuaca, etc. Some heavy masses were earlier found there, and more 

 recently Professor Krantz, of Bonn, instituted a careful search and obtained not less than 73 small iron meteorites 

 from this expedition. There has for a long time been disagreement as to whether these iron masses, which have been 

 found scattered along for a mile or more, belong to several or to only one fall. The doubt concerning this point has 

 now subsided. 



I recently received a slice of such an iron which Herr Krantz permitted to be taken from a 42-pound mass from 

 which he had given many specimens under the name of Tejupilco to the European collections. It weighed some- 

 thing over 2 pounds. It contained large specks of bright-yellow and pale-yellow iron sulphide; graphite was present; 

 and Widmannstatten figures intersecting at angles of 60° made their appearance, after etching, upon the entire sur- 

 face of the section. These things, however, are common and well known. 



But upon examination I came upon something unusual. There appeared embedded in the iron quite large frag- 

 ments of a stony material, sometimes of a dark-gray color with yellowish transparent specks, sometimes of a yellowish- 

 brown color, coarse-grained, and harder than quartz but not so hard as topaz, which from its exterior appearance resem- 

 bles olivine. By dissolving different iron meteorites in acid, there has frequently been obtained a residue of fine 

 insoluble granules which must have been disseminated through the iron; but here alone are found large stony masses 

 in iron, such as have never been seen before, angular fragments of 10, 14, and even 40 mm. in diameter and likewise 

 of nearly 1.5 inches in length. I give a drawing of it in which the speckled portion of the section indicates olivine 

 and the hatched portion, iron sulphide. 



I also recently purchased of Mr. G. A. Stein, of Darmstadt, a beautiful meteorite from the Toluca Valley of almost 

 17 pounds weight. It weighed originally 19.5 pounds and came from the neighborhood of the Ilacienda Mafii. A 

 fragment of 2.5 pounds was partly filed and partly broken off. The fracture and section surfaces did not appear metal- 

 lic all over, but were for the most part dull, stony, and blue gray. Carefully examined, this proved to be neither iron, 

 graphite, nor iron sulphide, but evidently a substance interspersed with white and yellow grains, and corresponding 

 exactly to the olivinelike particles in the above meteorite from Tejupilco. Here occurred the phenomenon of jagged 

 conglomeration in an area 63 mm. in width and almost 2.5 inches in length. 



I also had a 9.5-pound piece of a meteoric iron which I obtained from Stein and which was broken from a 230- 

 pound mass sold to him by Ordonez, who found it in Bata, a side ravine of the Toluca Valley. Olivine also appeared 

 interspersed in this specimen, not so abundantly, but quite as distinctly showing the same characteristics. 



Finally, I also owned a few small meteoric irons from the Toluca Valley which I obtained from Krantz, with 

 Ixtlahuaca indicated as the locality of discovery, one weighing 3 pounds, another 2 pounds, and several of 1 pound 

 weight. These I was loath to cut up, as they were entire aerolites, but all showed indications upon the crust of inclu- 

 sions consisting, not of iron, but of a stony substance. 



We have therefore secured, particularly for the special knowledge of the Toluca meteorites, a common peculiarity 

 which binds together in an especial manner all those which, either entire or in part, have come into my possession 

 and which gives to them a common character. It accordingly permits us to conclude inductively that it is more or less 

 true of all of the Toluca iron masses. And it follows further that these closely related, rusty meteoric iron masses 

 possessing a character so peculiar and found in no other known aerolites, undoubtedly belong to one and the same 

 meteor and meteoric shower. 



But for the general knowledge of the total history of the aerolites, these phenomena are also noteworthy. They 

 show us for the first time with distinctness that larger particles of stone may and do occur in iron masses. This has 

 never before been observed; the Toluca iron is the first known meteorite which occurs in this form. 



In my last two notices I have shown that there are meteoric stones in which independent iron globules occur 

 inlaid as meteorites in meteorites. Here we have the reverse condition: Meteoric iron masses in which independent 

 lumps of stone occur inlaid or included as meteorites in meteorites. 



Wohler 10 gave the following analysis: 



To the numerous meteoric irons which have been found in Mexico and described and analyzed, another as yet 

 undescribed mass is to be added, which was brought to Europe by Schleiden, and came into my possession. It 

 weighed 2,750 grams (5.5 pounds) and is an entire individual. It had a roundish, somewhat wedge-shaped form. 

 The exterior is much oxidized. The polished section surface yields upon etching very fine sharply defined figures, 

 with fine inclosing filaments of brightly glistening schreibersite, quite similar to the iron from the 223-pound mass of 

 Stein's. It is not passive. 



