Mr. Sorverly to the Emperor Alexander of Russia. 51 



away the horrors of ambitious warfare; of which gratitude Mr. 

 Sowerby wislies to express his part as an Englishman. 



" The immense niass of iron which lately blazed with such 

 fury in America, the one discovered by Professor Pallas in Siberia, 

 another which tell in Normandy, are all of them (at least such 

 specimens as have been seen here) so full of earthy matter, py- 

 rites, or flaws, as to render them totally unfit for hammering into 

 any instrument, even of small dimensions. The only attempt of 

 the kind on record wa? made in 1620, when Jehangire, Em- 

 peror of the Moguls, had four blades formed from the iron of 

 lightning, as it was called ; but the workmen found it necessary 

 to add one-fourth of common iron to make it suit their pur- 

 pose. 



** That meteoric stones were revered by the ancients, we have 

 many authorities for believing; and it is understood that the 

 Psalmist alluded to them, when he said, 'The Highest gave his 

 Toice, hailstones and coals of fire.' And it is also understood that 

 the first wonder of the world, the Temple of the Ephesians, de- 

 dicated to Diana, was built in reverence to one of them. And in 

 the Acts ihe town clerk appears to mean a similar thing when he 

 observes, * What man is there that knoweth not how that the city 

 of the Ephesians is a worshipper of that which fell down from 

 Jupiter ?' A stone which fell at Ensisheim was preserved in the 

 church in the Emperor Maximilian's time. In short, every part of 

 the globe has been visited bv such phasnomena at some period, 

 and particularly Russia and Europe lately, where hundreds have 

 witnessed their fiery descent. 



" In 1S05, Mr. Sowerby received part of the large mass of 

 iron found upon the surface of the ground about 200 miles within 

 the Cape of Good Hope bv Captain Barrow. Another piece 

 sent to Holland, is all that was brought away. The remainder was 

 removed as far as the Table Mountain ; but its situation is now 

 unknown. It has been examined bvSmithson Tennant, Esq. who 

 found in it about 10 per cent, of nickel, which adds to its tough- 

 ness, gives it a silvery lustre, and proves its analogy to the small 

 grains of iron dispersed through the stones and the masses of iron 

 which have been showered down from meteors in Russia, Great 

 r>ritain, Benares, Normandy, &c. which is distinguished from 

 all other iron of this globe, by its containing a portion of nickel 

 alloyed with it. 



" The blade has been hammered at a red heat, without admix- 

 ture, out of a single piece of this iron, an inch thick, ground and 

 polished. Its spring was given it by hammering when coin. The 

 haft was lengthened by welding on a small piece of steel. It was 

 found to work verv pleasantly, the whole operation takinc; about 

 ' D 2 ^ ten 



