METEOKITES FOUND IN SEAMS OF COAL. 315, 



for a moment imagiae even tba^ they were capable of pro- 

 ducing in tteir insides stones similar to those described in 

 this paper. 



Now, in my humble opinion, there is another cause to 

 ■yphich we can attribute the position of the stones in the 

 seams of coal in whick they were, without doubt, founcl,^ 

 by supposing that they are meteorites which fell from the 

 atmosphere, and became imbedded in the coal when it waa 

 in a soft state, and before it was covered by the overlying 

 roof. 



Up to this time, few meteorites have been found in the 

 strata composing the crust of the earth. In note 83 of 

 Lieutenant-Colonel Sabine's translation of Baron Hum-- 

 boldt's CosmoSy is the following passage : — " Olbers acutely 

 observes, that it is a remarkable circumstance, not hitherto* 

 noticed, that no fossil meteoric stones have as yet been, 

 found, like fossil shells, in secondary and tertiary forma-< 

 tions. Are we to infer that, previous to the last and pre- 

 sent arrangement of the surface of our planet, no meteori© 

 stones had fallen upon it; although, according to Schreibers, 

 it is probable that 600 falls of aerolites now take place vOi 

 each year?— (Olbers in Schum, JahrK, 1838, S. 329.) 

 Problematical nickeliferous masses of native iron have beea 

 found in Northern Asia, at a depth of 31 French feet, andi 

 recently among the Carpathian mountains; both these 

 masses are very like meteoric stones." 



Sir Charles Lyell, in the third edition of his Manual of 

 Elementary Geology y at page 145, alludes to the first-named 

 mass of native iron above mentioned, and as having been 

 ibund in the alluvium at Petropawlowsker in the Mrasskei 

 circle with more confidence. He, however, states that no 

 sufiicient data are supplied to enable us to determine 

 whether it be of post-pliocene or newer pliocene date. He 

 further adds---" We ought not, I think, to feel surprise 

 that we have not hitherto succeeded in detecting signs of 



