+02 Di s. Noeggerath and Bischof on the largest Mass 



M. Simonis's account did not favour the idea, no further atten- 

 tion was paid to the subject, until Chladni published the fol- 

 lowing remarks in Gilbert's Annals, 1821, part viii. p. 342. 



" The mass of solid iron discovered near Bitburg (and of 

 which I was informed by Professor Noeggerath, ) is undoubtedly 

 of meteoric origin ; for it appears from the American Minera- 

 logical Journal, vol, i. No. 4, p. 219, that Colonel Gibbs (the 

 same officer who took some pieces with him,) found them to 

 contain nickel. According to his statement the mass was mal- 

 leable, and weighed 2300 pounds. It was round, in consequence 

 of the peasants having struck pieces off. Some parts were 

 semi-hard, others gave fire with steel. The whole mass agreed 

 with those found in Louisiana with regard to compactness 

 and colour, its less oxidability than common iron, its propor- 

 tion of nickel, its toughness, and its isolated appearance. 



" The American Journal could not be obtained here for 

 further reference." 



After the appearance of this notice, every exertion was made 

 to learn what had been done with the above mass ; and it was 

 at length discovered that it had been smelted at a furnace in 

 the district of Schiindorf; and subsequently, in 1824, Dr. Noeg- 

 gerath, in company with M. Von Westphalen, proceeded to 

 ihe place where the iron had been found ; and received an 

 account from the persons residing near the spot, agreeing in 

 substance with the above. 



They then visited M. Mliller, the owner of the iron-works 

 where the mass had been smelted, and obtained the following 

 information. "About ten years since," that gentleman stated, " I 

 heard that a large piece of iron had been found near Bitburg, 

 and that the proprietor of the soil was willing to dispose of it. 

 I therefore sent for samples, which appeared to me to be iron 

 in almost a pure state ; and I accordingly bought the wliole at 

 three francs percwt. (being 33 or 34 cwt.), and was at a great 

 expense to bring it to the forge. It was not of any decided 

 form, but quite compact, without any apparent admixture of 

 extraneous substances, and seemed as if it had been melted 

 together; it was almost malleable, and fragments could be 

 struck from it but with difficulty. It had the appearance of 

 smelted ore, which on successive casting presents a knotted 

 and wavy surface; in short, it seemed to have been formed by 

 the melted metal being poured out. The whole piece was 

 smelted with immense labour, for the purpose of forming- 

 smaller ones; but when the latter were brought under the 

 hammer, they flew into small pieces, and could not possibly be 

 brought to weld." It was therefore of no service ; and M. Miil- 

 ler, to prevent its substitution for pure metal, ordered it to be 



buried 



