OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 199 



Dr. A. A. Hayes read the following commnnication on a 

 specimen of native iron from Liberia, Africa : — 



" It is with pleasure that I submit to the inspection of the Academy 

 a specimen of Native iron from Liberia, believed to have been taken 

 from the tract of country bordering the St. John's River, recently ac- 

 quired by the New Jersey colony. This specimen was placed in my 

 hands by Rev. Joseph Tracy, Secretary of the Massachusetts Coloni- 

 zation Society, for examination, and its physical characters at once 

 arrested my attention, as differing from those of any artificially pro- 

 duced iron. As I deem the discovery of native iron existing unal- 

 loyed a matter of much interest to naturalists and chemists, it is 

 proper that the evidence on which the statement rests should be sub- 

 mitted somewhat in detail. In the African Repository, Vol. XXX, 

 No. 8, August, 1854, at page 240, is a letter from Rev. Aaron P. Davis, 

 a resident missionary at Bassa Cove, from which the following ex- 

 tracts are taken. ' I send you a piece of African ore, just as dug from 

 its native bed, or broken from among rocks. I have seen and con- 

 versed with a number of natives, who affirm that it is actually the 

 pure ore, or just as taken from its native bed. I obtained a piece 

 through Hon. George L. Seymour, who had tried in vain to dissect 

 it : and I being of that craft, he brought it to my shop for that purpose. 

 When he brought it, it appeared like a craggy rock, of yellowish color 

 on its surface, and, with a very small exception, it could not be sepa- 

 rated but by heat and hard pounding with my largest sledge-hammer 

 and a chisel prepared for the purpose. I also send you a teaspoon 

 which I made of some of the ore, which in its crude state is supe- 

 rior to the iron brought here for sale by English merchant-vessels.' 

 ' I am told by the natives that it is plentiful, and about three days' 

 walk from our present place of residence (Bassa Cove) : it is gotten 

 by digging and breaking rocks. It is also said to be in large lumps. 

 In these parts the natives buy no iron, but dig it out of the ground, or 

 break the rocks and get it, as the case may be.' 



" The largest specimen before you, when received by me, bore on 

 one side the impress of the chisel, the coarse fracturing of a tough 

 metal, and marks of oxidation by fire ; it was further identified by 

 William Coppinger, Esq., of Philadelphia, as the piece received with 

 the letter of Mr. Davis. Mr. Coppinger gave the specimen to Rev. 

 H. M. Blodgett, who sent it to Rev. Joseph Tracy, from whose hands 

 I received it. Soon after I had expressed to Mr. Tracy my belief 



