H. HENSOLDT ON FLUID CAVITIES IN METEORITES. 3 



was found scarcely effigient as a working substance, for it produced 

 hardly any impression on the meteoric mass. By means of large 

 and thin copper discs, rotating vertically on a lathe, and under the 

 application of diamond powder, the fragment was reduced into 

 sections of about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, and these, 

 after having been polished carefully on one side, were fixed with 

 balsam on a glass plate, and ground as thin as was compatible 

 with their texture; and by the final polishing of the other side a 

 degree of transparency was reached more than sufficient for micro- 

 scopical examination. 



Before, however, proceeding to describe the features which the 

 sections exhibited under the microscope, I consider it of importance 

 to mention the aspect which a polished surface of the material 

 presented on examination with an ordinary pocket-lens. The 

 polish, which, owing to the hardness of the material, is of consider- 

 able brilliancy, reveals two distinct substances, which appear to be 

 the sole components of the meteorite. The one, of high metallic 

 lustre, bearing a striking resemblance to polished steel or iron, is 

 distributed in the shape of a minute network ; the other, of a 

 glassy character, filling the meshes of the network in so complete 

 a manner that no vacuum of any sort is visible. 



The shining substance of metallic lustre we at once considered 

 to be metallic iron ; a view which its great resemblance to that 

 element, the weight of the material, and the frequent occurrence 

 of metallic iron in meteorites, seemed to justify. This belief was 

 ^further strengthened by the striking resemblance which a broken 

 surface of the object bore to a broken surface of cast iron ; the 

 similarity being so great that it was difficult to point out any main 

 features of deviation. But though we have held this opinion for 

 nearly two years, I have quite recently, in consequence of more 

 elaborate experiments, come to the conclusion that this substance 

 is not iron in its pure or merely alloyed condition, but is a com- 

 bination of that metal with a non-metallic element. This discovery 

 seems, however, to lend only additional interest and importance to 

 the matter, as I will attempt to show later on. 



The observations made on the examination of a complete section 

 under a low power of the microscope corresponded with, and con- 

 firmed those made previously with a pocket-lens. There appeared 

 to be only two materials present ; exhibiting, however, a striking 

 contrast to each other — the one black, amorphous, and absolutely 



