on the Meteoric Iron of Bitburg. 45 



ceive detached surfaces, angles, &c. of crystals no longer de- 

 finable, but probably octahedral, which cover the surfaces of 

 the cavities in groups, and are partly melted themselves, and 

 covered over by a scoriaceous substance. The latter forms 

 die black dull surface, which is perceived in the above-men- 

 tioned state of brilliancy, wherever it became attached during 

 the original fusion in a purer form, and in the shape of small 

 hemispheres. 



" The lioht-grayish-white substances which appear either 

 singly or in small groups incorporated in the surface like splin- 

 ters in the shape of small angular grains, appear to me to be 

 too soft for quartz, and may perhaps be the same granular 

 body as that which forms the principal part of meteoric stones. 

 There are, however, too few of them in the fragment before 

 me, to allow of any certain decision on this point. 



"The pure meteoric iron of Bitburg itself is somewhat 

 ho-hter in colour than the melted mass. It is malleable and 

 softer than the latter ; it may be splintered a litde with the 

 knife. It is possible that this difference arises from the un- 

 melted substance having no admixture of sulphur, which may 

 have been added during the fusion by the intermixture of py- 

 rites. There is, however, no appearance of such a mixture in 

 the specimen before me : perhaps the mixture was not equal 

 throughout the mass, from which circumstance it may be en- 

 tirely missing in some fragments ; a supposition that seems to 

 be confirmed by the great differences in the quantity of sul- 

 phur found in the various analyses made of the melted mass 

 of Bitburg." 



I beo- now to add a few observations to the above. 



I assume as a fact, that all masses of native iron which may 

 actually be considered as meteoric, must, as far as we are ac- 

 quainted with them, be divided into two principal classes*: 

 viz. 1st, The ramose specimens, the cavities of which are filled 

 with a substance resembling olivine or chrysolite ; and 2ndly, 

 The solid specimejis, the structure of which is for the most 

 part crystalline. The mass of Bitburg belongs to the second 

 of these classes. Several other masses of this kind show, 



• I saw many years ago, when I was less acquainted with masses of na- 

 tive iron, a piece" which I do not know what to think of, at Wiirzbiirg, 

 with the late estimable Honavita Blanc, whose collection has been since ac- 

 quired by the University of that city. If I recollect it right, it had a flattish 

 round form, and was of about two ounces in weight, and seemed a rough 

 mixture of a gray mineral, more resembling some kinds of meteoric stone 

 than olivine and meteoric iron, and unlike any other kind of native iron I 

 had ever seen. It will probably be found in the cabinet of minerals of the 

 university of Wiirzburg, by the side ol' a fragment of the .Siberian mass ; and 

 it would be very «le>ii able" that some "ut >liould undertake to inve>tigate it. 



like 



