5© Experiments and Ohfervat'ions 



jilain, thai if fiuh a dcftruftion were to take place, the iro». 

 alone would icniaiu ; and, being thus left l)are, it would ap- 

 pear in the torni of a niafs, more or lefs confiderable, of a cel- 

 lular texture, and as it were raniilied ; fuch a form, in fliorf, 

 as that in which moll of the native irons we are acquainted 

 with have been found. May it not be fair to attribute to 

 fuch an origin the native iron found in Bohemia, a fpecimen 

 of which was prcfcntcd by the Academy of Freybcrg to baron 

 Jloni, and which came, with the red of his collection, into 

 the hands of Mr. Greville ? Pvlay not fuch alfo, notwithftand- 

 ing the enormity of its bulk, be the origin of the mafs of 

 native iron found iu Siberia, near Mount Kemirs, by the 

 telebraled Pallas? 



We have already feen, in the rcfults of the analvfcs made 

 by Mr. Howard, of the various (tones above defcribed, that 

 lie conftantly found a certain proportion of nickel mixed with 

 the iron they contained. This circumflance recalls to our 

 notice the obfervaiions that were made by Mr. Prouft, fome 

 time ago, refpefting the mixture of nickel in the native iron 

 of South America ; and tends lo give fome additional fup- 

 port to the opinion hinted at in the foregoing paragraph. 



The circunillances juil mentioned naturally gave to Mr. 

 Howard, as well as to me, a defire to know whether the na- 

 tive iron from Siberia, and that from Bohemia, were alfo 

 mixed with nickel, Mr. Howard, eonfequently, loCt no time 

 in proceeding upon this important inveliigation. 'I'he native 

 iron of Siberia prefents fome very intereUing peculiarities, and 

 has often been referred to, but has not yet been properly de- 

 fcribed; it is therefore with great plcafure that I add the fol- 

 lowing defcrijition of it, and of fome other kinds of native 

 iron, to the defcription I have already given of the Various 

 ilones laid to have fallen on the earth. 



I feel the greater fallsfa6lion in doing this, as the noble 

 colletlion of Mr. Greville contains two fpecimen? of this iron, 

 in perfeft condition ; one of which weighs feveral pound?, 

 and was fent to xMr. Greville by Mr. Pallas himfelf : on this 

 ^iccount, therefore, I enjoy an advantage that many of the 

 authors who have fpoken of this iron probably wanted. 



Oi.e of thefe pieces has a cellular and raniilied texture, ana- 

 Ligous to that of fome very porous and light volcanic fcoria ; 

 this is the ufual texture of the fpccimcns of this kind of iron, 

 which are prefcrvcd in the various mineralogical collections 

 in Ti'.arope. When it is attentively examined, there may be 

 perceived in it, nr^i onlv empty cells, but alfo impreflions or 

 cavfiies, of greater or lefs depth, and fonietimes pertcclly 

 rwund, which appear erideully to be the refult of the com- 

 (j ' prcffion 



