| 
skis 
ST eage  w 
Meteoric Stones. 99 
Agram. _ Kap. Lenarto, 
Tron, 89.784 85.608 90.883 PRS 
Nickel, 8.886 12.275 450 
Cobalt, 0.667 0.887 0.665 trace of copper. 
; 99.337 98.770 99.998 
Wherle has sought the constant proportions in the metals; this 
inquiry I regard as fruitless. 
But before I conclude this subject, perhaps already sufficiently 
long for my report, I must subjoin one result more of my exami- 
nation. The meteoric stone from Allais falls to pieces in water, 
to an earth, which smells of clay and hay and contains carbon in 
a1 unknown union. ‘This shows that in the region of the me- 
teoric stones, minerals fall to pieces to a clay-like mixture as on 
Me earth. Now arose the inquiry, whether this carboniferous 
earth from the surface of another planetary body contains the or- 
ganized products, whether indeed organized bodies are thus dis- 
covered there, more or less analogous with those of the earth. 
t is easy to conceive with what interest the answer would be 
Sought. It was not in the affirmative, but to decide in the neg- 
ative would be to conclude more about it than we are author- 
ized to do. The earth was found to be olivine, containing ferro- 
sulphate of nickel and of tin. 'The magnet took up the compound 
oxide of iron in black grains, along with which the microscope 
detected flitters of metallic iron. Water brought out sulphate of 
Naghesia with small quantities of sulphate of nickel ; but nothing 
organized, as none of the alkalies could be extracted. In a dry 
distillation were developed carbonic acid gas and water, together 
with a black gray sublimate, but no burnt oil, no carburetted hy- 
drogen ; in a word, the carboniferous substance was not of the 
“ame nature as the soil on this earth. ‘There were besides a car- 
bonate and black soot. ‘The sublimate heated in oxygen gave no 
ttace of carbonic acid or of water, and changed to a white, unerys- 
lallized, volatile body, soluble in water, which did not become acid 
in the process and was not precipitated by nitiate of silver. What 
this body is I did not know ; it remains unknown to me. _ Is it 
Indeed an elementary body not originally pertaining to our planet? 
° answer this question in the affirmative would be too hasty. 
