178 ROCHESTER ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. [June 8, 
The following paper was read : 
ANALYSES OF KAMACITE, TAINITE AND PLESSITE FROM 
THE WELLAND METEORIC IRON. 
By Joun M. Davison. 
The siderolite which is the subject of this paper is described by 
Edwin E. Howell on pages 86-87 of the proceedings of this Society 
for 1890. Its analysis gave Fe. 91.17 and Ni. 8.54 It is singularly 
free from troilite and schreibersite, and thus offered an unusually good 
opportunity for the analysis of its separated nickel-iron alloys. 
On sawing the meteorite the outside was found much decomposed; 
but between this and the compact center was a zone in which the 
oxidation was superficial, and confined, for the most part, to planes of 
contact of the different nickel-iron alloys that form the Widmanstatten 
figures. It thus became possible to separate the kamacite and tenite 
in quantities sufficient for analysis. 
‘he quantity of kamacite used for analysis was gm. 0.934; of 
teenite gm. 0.4522. 
‘The physical character of these alloys differ widely. ‘The kam- 
acite is brittle, breaking with a subconchoidal fracture, and is of the 
color of cast iron. It was coated with a thin film of black oxide, 
which had often a resinous luster as if covered with lacquer, partic- 
ularly where the tenite had been freshly stripped off. This oxide was 
attracted by the magnet and is probably the magnetic oxide Fe; O, 
Some pieces of kamacite of a millimeter or two in thickness were 
entirely altered to this oxide. The kamacite shows, in places, a corru- 
gated surface in some specimens resembling bundles of rods, like the 
columnar structure of hematite. Figures 1 and 2, Plate 14, show this 
columnar structure. In the latter the tenite which closely followed 
the form of the kamacite, is laid back but not detached. 
The tenite has a silvery luster, with, when slightly oxidized, a 
tinge of bronze. It is flexible and elastic, and fuses on the edges in 
the oxidizing flame of the blowpipe, turning dark. Its fusibility seems 
to be about 5. It resists oxidation better than the kamacite, the 
contrast between its comparatively fresh appearance and the dark film 
covering the other was marked, and facilitated their separation. 
Both kamacite and tznite were magnetic, and exhibited a weak 
polarity, which was more marked in the latter. Pieces of taenite floated 
directly on water, and pieces of kamacite, buoyed on a cork, arranged 
themselves in the magnetic meridian : the taenite promptly, the kamacite. 
