79 



stances already examined, became the subject of investigation ; and 

 the mean result of two analyses gave, in 100 grains of the earth, 

 48 silica, 18 magnesia, 34 oxide of iron, and 2 oxide of nickel. 



When we observe that the three other stones were found to con- 

 tain the same elements as that just now described, only in somewhat 

 different proportions, we may be excused from detaining the Society 

 with the particulars of their several analyses. Nor shall we here 

 dwell upon Mr. Howard's manner of reconciling his results with 

 those of the Abbe Bachelay and Prof. Barthold, any further than to 

 state, that the inferences drawn are favourable to the supposition, 

 that the stones they examined were of the same nature as those here 

 described. 



IV. In this section we collect some of Mr. Howard's principal 

 observations on this curious subject. It must be admitted, that not- 

 withstanding the concurring evidence we have of the fall of some of 

 these substances from the atmosphere, yet the fact itself is so repug- 

 nant to what we know as yet of the operations of nature, that we 

 are likely to pause a while before we shall venture to form any de- 

 cided opinion on the subject. Had the fall of all these stones been 

 attended with meteors, we should naturally combine the two phae- 

 nomena ; and in this case Mr. Howard contends, that as these me- 

 teors generally move in a direction nearly horizontal, and probably 

 not very high in the atmosphere, the objection of the stones not 

 striking deeper into the earth, owing to their accelerated velocity, 

 would be obviated. The imperfect knowledge we have of the origin 

 and nature of meteors may likewise be considered as an encourage- 

 ment for inquiring further into this hypothesis. 



Should these masses, after all, turn out to be the effects of some 

 regular and simple operation of nature, it is likely that many more 

 will be found on the surface of the earth, which will become the ob- 

 jects of future inquiry. Meanwhile, Mr. Howard has thought proper 

 to take a comparative view, not only of the masses of what has been 

 denominated Native Iron in South America and Siberia, but also of 

 every other specimen that could be met with in our collections of the 

 substances that came under the same denomination. For a descrip- 

 tion of these substances, together with various observations there- 

 upon, we are likewise indebted to Count de Bournon, who seems to 

 think, that were the particles of iron and nickel in the stones here 

 examined so numerous as to be in contact with each other, and were 

 the earthy particles interposed between them wholly destroyed, as 

 may happen by a variety of causes, the ferruginous cellular texture 

 that would remain would be very similar to the native iron of Siberia 

 and South America ; both which have, moreover, by chemical analy- 

 sis, been found to contain an ample proportion of nickel. The Count, 

 in describing the Siberian iron, mentions the hard transparent no- 

 dules found in the cells of that metal, which bear a great resemblance 

 to the peridot (chrysolite of Werner), the decomposition of which 

 leaves the empty cells which we observe in all the specimens that are 

 brought to us. Mr. Howard, on analysing these transparent nodules, 



