1816.] r 67 ] 



REPORT OF CHEMISTRY, NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, &c. 



THE colour of blood is generally supposed to depend on iron ; but some experimenU 

 by Vauquclin have demonstrated the erroneous nature of tliis opinion, and proved, 

 tliat a colouring matter may be drawn from the blood, in which tlie most delicate test 

 cannot discover the smallest trace of iron. The blood, according to Vauquelin's expe- 

 riments, is composed of — 1. albumen; 2. fibrine ; 3. colouring matter; 4, a fat and 

 Biild oil ; the constant presence of which, however, in the blood of man requires the au- 

 thority of further experiments. 



On the 3d of October, 18i5, in the commnne of Chassigny, a village four leagues to 

 the somh-east of Langres, at half past eight iu the morning, the sky being clear and se- 

 rene, and a gentle east wind prevailing, a rumbling noise was heard, like the discharge 

 of musketry and artillery. This noise, which seemed to come from the north-east, and 

 from a cloud which Imng over Uie horizon, of an indeterminate form, and a gray colour, 

 had lasted a few minutes, when a man at work in a vineyard at some distance from the 

 village, and who had his eyes fixed on this cloud, hearing a whistling like that of a can- 

 non ball, saw an opaque body fall a few paces from him, and which emitted a dense 

 smoke. Running to the spot, he saw a deep hole in the ground, and around it were 

 fragments of stone ot a peculiar kind, which he found as hot as if they had been long 

 exposed to a strong sun. Some persons in the village of Chassi;,'ny, and parts adjacent, 

 who happened to be sitting on the ground, thought they felt the shock of an earthquake 

 during the detonation; but the peasant who saw the stone fall experienced no sucU 

 sensation. 



Account of the nbove Aerolite, by M. Vauquelin, 



1. Colour : brown externally, pearl gray internally. 



2. Contexture : grainy, and broken in every direction. 



3. Solidity : very slight, crumbling with the greatest facility. 



4. .Aspect : shining, and as if varnished. 



5. Sound : none. Although it appears to have been roasted, it has not the dryness 

 Kor the hardness of glass when it is broken; it seems, on the contrary, to be soft under 

 the pestle, which soon pounds it. 



6. It has no action on the magnetic needle, and yet the crust with which it is covered 

 has a slight effect; this announces that it contains iron in the state of oxide. 



7. It forms a jelly with the acids. Hence it must be concluded that the silex is 

 therein combined with some principle. 



Ten grammes contained as follows : — 



Silex 3.39 gr. 



Oxidated iron .' . . 3.10 



Magnesia .... 3,S0 



Metallic chrome . . . .SO 



It contained, therefore, neither sulphur nor nickel, and the iron in it is entirely 

 oxidated ; whereas, all other aerolites contain those two substances, and the iron 

 has always been in the metallic state, at least for the most part. A part of the 

 silex contained in the stone is only in the state of mixtuie in the sandy form; and 

 another more abundant portion than the first is entirely combined with the magnesia, 

 and probably with the iron, since it is dissolved at the same time with those two bodies 

 in the sulphuric acid. There is, in the present stone, (wice as much magnesia as in 

 those which have been hitherto analysed ; perhaps its softness was owing to this 

 cause. And lastly, the chrome is found in it in the metallic state, which announces that 

 it must have resisted the oxidathig action which buint the iron. The quantity of (his 

 Dietai is also more considerable than usual. 



F. Daniel, esq. has rea<l to the Koy.il Society, an experimental Inquiry into th« 

 Process of Crystallization, and the Effects of Solution on the Structure of Crystals, 

 The author's object was to verify, if possible, the hypothesis of the sphericity of mole- 

 cules. He began by making solutions of alum, nitrates of cupper and of potash, <Sjc. 

 These solutions took two or three weeks to yield regular crystals ; they bc^an by de- 

 positing a sediment which gradually assumed oclohedral, rhomboidal, ixc. forms. Ex- 

 periineiits of this nature he varied with great iiidustiy and ingenuity, and detailed mi- 

 nutely the results. His next object was to observe the changes which took place in 

 rrjstals during solution. He weighed certain crystals, immersed them in a given por- 

 tion of water, left them to remain in the fluid so many hours, then withdrew them, 

 wiped them dry with blotting paper, ascertained what weight they had lost, and what 

 ^fert- the moditications produced on tUeir ciystalliue structure : he agaiuiiuiuersed them 



Ki^ ia 



