Natural History. -167 



true composition of the whole: 4 grammes, (61.8 gr.) were taken 

 and gave, 



Silica 1.40 



Oxide of iron, . . . 2.51 



Sulphur, 09 



Oxide of chrome . . .01 

 Oxide of nickel, . . .02 



Magnesia, 17 



Lime and potassa . . .50 



4.70 

 The 2.51 oxide of iron correspond to 1.76 metallic iron; but 

 the 0.09 of sulphur would require 0.16 of iron to form the proto- 

 sulphuret ; and if, beside this, 0.18 be subtracted for the 0.25 of 

 oxide of iron, which in the analysis was found united to the 

 chromic acid, there will remain 1.42 of metallic iron, containing 

 only nickel and manganese for the 4 of aerolite. The quantity 

 of nickel was so small, that cobalt could not be looked for in it, 

 but M. Vauquelin thinks it probable that it was present. — 

 Ann. de Chim. xxi. 324. 



3. Large Meteor. — A magnificent meteor was seen by INIr. 

 Davenport, on the 28th October last, at about half-past five in 

 the evening. It was seen from Silver-hill, on the Hastings 

 road, and appeared as a luminous ball, of full one-third of the 

 apparent diameter of the moon, giving a remarkably bright and 

 white light. Its direction was north-east, its height above the 

 horizon about 22°. It passed horizontally to the west, over an 

 arc of about 20°, occupying about 8] seconds of time. Mr. 

 Davenport is anxious to know whether other persons have seen 

 the same meteor; and if so, from whence, and in what direc- 

 tion. — Ann. Phil. 



4. Fall of Rain in the Tropics. —Vrofessor Silliman gives the 

 following statement, on the authority of M. Rousuis, captain of 

 a vessel. It is contained in a letter from Cayenne. " You will 

 perhaps learn, with no inconsiderable interest, the following 

 meteorological fact, the authenticity of which I am able to cer- 

 tify. From the 1st to the 24th of January (1820), there fell 

 upon the island of Cayenne, twelve feet seven inches of water. 

 This observation was made by a person of the highest veracity, 

 and I assured myself, by exposing a vessel in the middle of my 

 yard, that there fell in the city ten and a quarter inches of water, 



