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On Chlorine in Meteoric Iron. 359 
it a slight jar that the powder arranged itself in directions coinci- 
ding with the Widmanstiattian figures, and that a portion of it 
maintained its adhesion, even though the surface was held in an 
inverted position. No other meteoric iron in my possession ex- 
hibits a similar property. I have since ascertained by a solution 
of the Texas iron, that it contains magnetic oxide of iron. 
On Chlorine in Meteoric Iron. 
The detection of chlorine in meteoric iron was a discovery of 
Dr. Cartes T’. Jackson, of Boston.* It was made upon a me- 
teoric mass found at Claiborne, Ala. (See this Journal, Vol. 
xxxiv, p. 332.) The mass examined weighed twenty eight oun- 
ces, and so rich was it in chlorine, that Dr. J. considered it as an 
original ingredient of the meteorite, and conjectured that it would 
be found in other meteoric bodies, advancing at the same time 
an ingenious hypothesis founded on its presence in them, for their 
incandescence on entering our atmosphere. 
_ Fora time, I was inclined to suspect that the mass examined 
by Dr. J. nat acquired its chlorine from the chemical trials it 
might have undergone prior to its reaching his hands; for in his 
paper we are told, that it had been supposed to Somtiin silver, 
This conjecture of mine was put to rest however, on my analysis 
of the meteoric iron of Buncombe, N. C., (see this Journal, Vol. 
xxxvi, p. 81,) inasmuch as I met with the same element in a 
mass, and more lately in that of Guildford (see this Journal, Vi 
XL, p. 369), in the same state. 
The observations which I am about to detail however, have 
greatly shaken my confidence in the extra-terrestrial origin of 
chlorine in these masses. 
During the last summer, a mass of cast-iron kentledge of the 
usual size and shape (i. e. a right square prism of about twenty 
* In a published report of the British Association for 1839, (Abstracts &e. a3 54) 
an abstract of a communication of mine on meteorites is given, with tl 
Dr, Jackson’s claim to the discovery of this element. If the original papers died 
ade up are preserved by that body, i it will appear that 
I was by no means pa of overlooking the merits of Dr. J. in this particular. 
t The rnal aspect of several specimens of meteoric iron preserved in the 
fine bel\detion of the British Maseum, led me to conjecture that they also includ- 
ad e; while I have mentioned in the sa Pap account of the 
iron, that that Dr. Troost has found it in that remarkable 
