containing Native Lead. 13 



99-80 99-85 



In general composition it therefore closely resembles the 

 majority of meteoric irons hitherto analysed. I am unable at 

 present to say if it contains Schreibersite. 



The specific gravity of a slice weighing 6 oz., containing, how- 

 ever, cavities, and other matter, I found to be about 6*5. For 

 meteoric iron it is perhaps unusually soft ; and though it shows 

 no regular crystalline or Widmannstattian figures when a polished 

 surface is treated with nitric acid, yet there is apparent a slightly 

 welded or mottled texture, brighter in some parts than in others. 



It was not, however, until the iron had been cut up into slices 

 for the purpose of polishing and for exchange, that I discovered 

 it had not a perfectly homogeneous structure, but was in many 

 places more or less honeycombed with cavities, some of which 

 actually contained what appeared to be pure lead ! In some the 

 lead was not larger than a pellet, and did not fill the entire 

 cavity which contained it ; in others the entire cavity was filled 

 with lead, in size equal to a pea. Professor Shepai-d of Ame- 

 rica, who is so well acquainted with meteorites, along with Dr. 

 Heddle and myself, saw some slices of this iron slit in the work- 

 shop of Mr. Young the lapidary, at Edinburgh, and we took lead 

 out of the cavities immediately after they left the lathe, so that 

 thei-e could be no deception whatever. 



To be quite certain, my friend Dr. Heddle examined some of 

 it, and found it to be chemically pure lead ; when the tarnished 

 surface was not scraped off, small quantities of iron and alumina, 

 and mere traces of phosphorus and magnesia, were found. 



There are also two other substances in some of the cavities of 

 this singular iron, which Dr. Heddle, when he has analysed, will 

 separately report upon ; the one a very hard, grayish-black, semi- 

 metallic mineral ; the other yellowish-brovra, insoluble in acids, 

 and with an earthy texture. 



This is the first authentic instance of the existence of lead in 

 meteoric bodies, and to find it so closely allied with, and buried, 

 as it were, in metallic iron, is not only in itself singular, but 

 difficult to account for. It is, however, probable that the lead 

 was originally held in alloy along with the nickel and cobalt, 



