22 Shooting Stars. 
gether with a trace of sulphate of lime and oxyde of iron. 
uchner’s mass swelled very much upon being heated, evol- 
ving a strong animal odor, giving off a smoke of an empy- 
reumatic smell; at last it took fire, andat the end of the’ 
combustion left behind an ashy coal, which contained car- 
bonate of soda and phosphate of lime. Though Schwabe 
considers the mass examined by him as similar to Buchner’s, 
I yet believe, that the differences here specified, not merely 
in the color, but also in the chemical results, present many 
doubts as to the accuracy of his conclusion, and do not au- 
thorize us to agree to the identity of both substances. 
n confirmation of these views, I am able to exhibit an in- 
vestigation of my own, which I had occasion to make dur- 
ing the last autumn, that may perhaps shed some further 
light upon the subject. 
A friend and fellow citizen possesses a low meadow in our 
vicinity. It is situated at the bottom of one of our salt dales, 
and by much labor, the construction of drains, &c. though © 
it was formerly very boggy, it is now much drier; and by 
od cultivation, manure, the rubbish of stone coal, &c. pro-. 
uces good grass. In a walk over this ground, my friend 
found a gelatinous mass, and a laborer informed him that he 
had frequently seen similar beautiful specimens ; though 
neither my friend, nor I, in my botanic excursions over this 
meadow, with my assistants and pupils, had ever before dis- 
covered them. My friend brought the substance to me, that 
I might investigate the nature of the mass, the singular ap- 
pearance of which had excited his curiosity. 
soon as I saw the substance, I was reminded of Buch- 
ner’s treatise upon the article called shooting star (stern- 
schnuppen 3) but by a closer inspection of its beautiful exte- 
rior, I discovered some diversities from Buchner’s descrip- 
size of about two cubic inches and a half. Upon minute in- 
spection, it was found in many places to be enclosed with a 
very thin white pellicle or membrane, which in the middle 
parts of it was burst or torn. In these places, the contents, 
as if they were too large, projected through the covering. 
The fissures of the enveloping pellicle were, without doubt, 
