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XXXII. 071 the Composition of the Cape Meteorite. 

 By Professor Wohleu*. 



THE remarkable meteoric stones which fell on the 13th of 

 October, 1838, at 9 a.m., in the Bokkeveld, about seventy 

 miles from Capetown, accompanied by the most fearful and 

 widely-heard thundei'-clap, present in their peculiar external 

 condition the greatest resemblance to the stone that fell at 

 Kaba in Hungary, on April 15th, 1857, the analysis of which 

 the author has lately communicated. They are, like the latter, 

 almost black, and consist of a soft incoherent mass in which only 

 a few bright points can be discerned, and none of the little no- 

 dules which the Kaba stone contained in such abundance. The 

 Cape stone was analysed by Faraday as early as 1839; but no 

 explanation was then given of its peculiar colour. It seemed to 

 the author, therefore, that a new analysis of this stone would be 

 of the greater interest, inasmuch as it afforded some prospect of 

 discovering carbon to be the cause of the colour m question, in 

 connexion perhaps with the same bituminous substance for which 

 the Kaba stone is so remarkable. This conjecture was com- 

 pletely verified by the following investigations, undertaken by 

 Mr. Harris at the author's request, and for which Director Homes, 

 with the greatest readiness, afforded a small quantity of this rare 

 substance. 



On heating a small portion of the stone in a tube, the pre- 

 sence of bituminous matter was immediately recognized, a very 

 distinct odour of bitumen being evolved. The whole of the 

 small piece of stone available for the purpose was then powdered 

 and boiled in carefully purified alcohol. On the latter being 

 filtered, it was seen to have acquired a pale yellow colour ; and 

 on careful evaporation it left behind a soft, yellow, resinous or 

 waxy substance, precisely similar to that from the Kaba stone. 

 This substance was completely soluble again in alcohol, and, like 

 a resin, formed a milky precipitate on the addition of water. On 

 being heated in a tube, it easily melted, and then decomposed 

 with separation of a black coal and evolution of a strong bitu- 

 minous odour. On account of the small quantity of the material, 

 it was impossible to examine it more accurately ; but there is no 

 doubt that this meteoric mass, falling, as it did, to the earth 

 from planetary space, contains a carbonaceous substance which 

 can have no other than an organic origin. 



That the almost black colour of the stone was due to inti- 

 mately admixed amorphous carbon was easily shown. Heated 

 to redness in the air, it became of a light clear brown. On Ijeing 

 treated with acids the black colour did not disappear. Heated 



* From the Bericht d. kais. Akad. d. IVisscnsch. zu IViem, vol. xx.w. p. 1 . 



