1867.] 331 [Smith. 



Joseph Leidy, of Philadelphia, with the following statement of its 

 history : 



" Some time ago the American Philosophical Society deposited its 

 natural history collection with the Academy of Natural Sciences. In 

 the collection of minerals, there was a special lot of Mexican min- 

 erals presented by Mr. Poinsett, who was at one time United States 

 iMinister to Mexico. The minerals consisted of rich silver ores, &c., 

 and among them, this specimen of meteoric iron, which was labelled 

 ' Native Silver, Mexico.' It appears to be an entire meteorite, ex- 

 hibiting nowhere a cut or broken surface; one end, however, was 

 much crushed, as if the specimen had been used for a hammer. The 

 present weight of the specimen is thirty-six hundred grains ; it is two 

 inches long, one and a half wide, and one and a half inches high in 

 the middle, and slopes irregularly towards each end. The face from 

 which the piece sent was cut is hexagonal, and exhibits a partial 

 crystalline arrangement, without development by an acid." 



Its structure is highly crystalline, and on the cut face of the piece 

 I have, the laminae of the crystals are over one-sixteenth of an inch 

 thick, and crossing each other at the usual angle. The Widmann- 

 statlen figures are very strongly developed by lead. 



Its specific gravity is 7.72, and its composition shows the usual 

 constituents in the following preparations : 



Iron, 91.103 



Nickel, 7.557 



Cobalt, .763 



Phosphorus, ....... .020 



Sulphur, trace 



Copper, trace 



Although this specimen is spoken of as being a complete meteor- 

 ite, it not unfrequently happens that fragments of larger masses of 

 meteoric iron, of a very highly crystalline structure, and that have 

 been detached for some time, present the appearance of being com- 

 plete masses. It is possible that this iron may be a portion of the 

 large mass recently sent to France, from Mexico, by General Bazaine. 



J. Lawrence SiMith, 



Louisville, Ky. 



• 

 The following extract from a letter of Dr. I. A. Lapham, 



to Mr. P. E. Chase, dated Milwaukee, March 11, 1867, was 



read : 



" Six years of the observations made here by me, have been re- 



