6o Field Columbian Museum — (iEOLoGV, Vol. III. 



for the analyses is that now generally known as the Rose-Tscherniak- 

 Brezina classification. This seemed the classification most desirable 

 to employ on account of its wide use, and when it was found, as will 

 be seen by the tables, that the chemical constitution of the meteorites 

 follows its main divisions, its adaptation to the work in hand seems 

 unquestionable. Under each group of the classification the arrange- 

 ment of the meteorites is alphabetical. Synonyms of the meteorite 

 names will be found on subsequent pages. The characterization of 

 the meteorite groups which head the tables have largely been sum- 

 marized from Cohen.* In considering the analyses it should be 

 realized that some of the groups are much better known than others. 

 Thus the ataxites and hexahedrites were thorough' studied by Cohen 

 and their composition satisfactorily determined. The fine octahed- 

 rites have also been mostly investigated. The coarse and medium 

 octahedrites, however, though more numerous than the groups just 

 mentioned, are but imperfectly known and need detailed modern 

 study. In a list following the tables meteorites of which no analy- 

 sis is known are marked with an asterisk. These- number about 

 forty. In addition, many meteorites, analyses of which are reported 

 in the tables, have never in fact been properly studied. The only ex- 

 tensive list of analyses of iron meteorites which has lately been previ- 

 ously compiled of which the writer is aware is that of Wadsworth, 

 published in 1884.7 This list includes one hundred and ninety-three 

 analyses of iron meteorites and terrestrial irons, arranged in order of 

 the per cent of nickel. No further attempt at classification is made. 

 While Wadsworth's list is fairly complete as regards older analyses, 

 it includes several pseudo-meteorites, and obviously does not ade. 

 quately represent present knowledge. 



The first recorded attempt at analysis of an iron meteorite is 

 probably to be found in the examination in 1802, by Count de Bournon, J 

 of some so-called native irons from Bohemia, Senegal, and South 

 America. In these Count de Bournon found percentages of nickel 

 ranging from five to ten per cent, but it is stated by Howard else- 

 where in the paper that owing to lack of knowledge of the pecu- 

 liarities of nickel these figures are little more than estimates. The 

 next year Klaproth § reported one and one-half to three and one-half 

 per cent of nickel in the iron meteorite of Hraschina, and expressed 

 the opinion that the presence of nickel might serve as a criterion for 



* Meteoritenkunde, Heft III. 



t The Rocks of the Cordilleras, Memoirs Museum Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, Mass , 

 Vol. .\I. Part I, pp. vi-.\vi, Table II. 



I Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc, London, 1802. 



^ .Abhandl. Akad. Wiss., Berlin, 1803, 21-41. 



