ANALYSES OF IRON METEORITES 

 COMPILED AND CLASSIFIED 



BY 



OLIVER CUMMINGS FARRINGTON 



Chemical analyses may be collected and grouped for purposes of 

 record and of comparison. For the first purpose it is desirable that 

 all known analyses of the substances under consideration be collected ; 

 for the second, only those known to be complete and reliable are 

 needed. A combination of these two purposes may perhaps be gained, 

 however, by collecting all analyses and leaving to the judgment of the 

 investigator the selection of those suited for the study of any par- 

 ticular phase of the subject. This plan is practically that which has 

 been adopted in presenting the analyses here collected. In many 

 cases obviously incomplete analyses are given because they represent 

 all that is known of the chemical constitution of the meteorite in 

 question, or because they mark a stage in its study. On the other 

 hand, analyses which amount to little more than a qualitative deter- 

 mination of the presence of iron and nickel, or whose connection with 

 a particular meteorite is uncertain, are omitted. About three hundred 

 and sixty analyses are here included, and it is believed that they com- 

 prise practically all of importance that have been made of iron 

 meteorites. When more than one analysis of a meteorite is given, 

 the analyses have been arranged chronologically. For the most part 

 the later analyses are the most complete and reliable ones, though 

 this is not always the case. Thus those by J. Lawrence Smith, 

 although made thirty and in some cases forty years ago, accord well with 

 what is known of the constitution of the iron meteorites at the present 

 day and may be considered generally accurate and reliable. The 

 same is true of analyses by Jackson, Berzelius, Damour, and others. 

 As shown later, the relations between structure and composition 

 brought out by the analyses as here grouped are so definite that at 

 the present time a knowledge of the structure of a meteorite will give 

 a more accurate idea of its composition than inferior chemical 

 analyses. The general plan of arrangement which has been adopted 



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