MKTALS IN THK ATMOSPHKKK. 241 



oil :i ai'iiiiiilnr fofiuiitioii of luclcorilos, which ciiii exist as well as 

 an iiupalpahh' |)o\\(h'r Moating in spaeo as in the forms of (•()n<j^h)in- 

 ci-ates of st'\(M-al hun(h-('(l kih)s weight. Very small grains which, 

 in passing throngh the atmosphere, were heated, nielted, and vola- 

 tilized, appear to us in the form of shooting stars; it is suj)i)ose(l 

 that matl(M-, not over a gram in weight, is sufficient to produce one 

 of these meteors. Searching for the dust of shooting stars, de 

 Keicheiibach found, in 1S()4, on the sunnnit of mountains of (lermany 

 some ferruginous dust giving nickel and cohalt reactions. On the 

 hill of Tvabisherg, at an altitude of 1, :')()() feet, under the shelter of 

 the beech forests, untouched by ax or pick, he found similar traces 

 of nickel and cobalt. Again, in a note of March 4, 1812, Von Baum- 

 havei- i)nblished some observations on magnetic i)articles obtained 

 from hailstones, citing i);irticidarly a hail storm he observed at 

 Padua on the 2()th of August, 18:M. After this meteoric period 

 of -Vugust and September Phipson managed to collect some black 

 angular particles which were n(Mther carbonaceous nor coated with 

 soot, and which, dissolved in hydrochloric acid, formed a pjerchlo- 

 ride of iron. Nordenskiold encountered in the snow collected on 

 ii'ebergs some metallic particles about a (juai-ter of a millimeter in 

 circumference containing metallic iron coated with carbonized oxide 

 and was at the same time able to detei'mine the presence of nickel 

 and [)h()sphorus. 



After a heavy fall of snow at (leneva on October 5, 1883, M. Jung 

 melted a (juantity collected on the Saleve, and found therein a 

 deposit of powder exceptionally rich in iron globules. 



There fell in 188:'), about the annual period in November char- 

 actei-ized by an abundance of shooting stars, a i-ain reniarkal)ly 

 stri/ug in metallic dust of cosmic origin. These particularly abun- 

 dant globules of iron might have bin-n in-oduced by the bi-eaking 

 up of nnich larger meteorites into microscoi)ical shooting stars. 

 From his Stockholm analysis of snow, in which, as in hail, he found 

 bits of iron. XordenskiTild satisfied himself that hail is condensed 

 around minute grains of cosmic matter floating in the air and fall- 

 ing imi)ercej)tibly but continuously to the earth. He regards the 

 existence of such matei-ial as proven i)V his observations and attrib- 

 utes to its fall a considerable importance not only from the stand- 

 point of the geologist and i)hysiograi)hist, but from that of the 

 farmer: lliis last on account of its j)ho->phorus. which with nickel and 

 cobalt is characteristic of meteoric iron. To cite a single example: An 

 analysis of the meteoric iron found at Santa Catarina, Brazil, gave 

 tlie following components: Iron. ('>:').(')'.) ])ei- cent; nickel, 33.97 per 

 cent: cobalt. 1.18; with small (piantities of phosphorus, sulphur, 

 carbon, and silica. 'I'his iron, remaikable for its exceptional (|uan- 

 Si\i 1!)04 1<; 



