429 



my friend, Mr. H. Brooke, the distinguished mineralogist, tells me 

 that he perfectly remembers the case of an iron chain which had 

 been enclosed in the heart of a tree, the wood of which was sound 

 around the whole of the included metallic body. This specimen 

 was to be seen some years ago in the British Museum. Again, he 

 informs me that at Stoke Newington he recollects to have seen a 

 tree, the trunk of which had grown over and completely enclosed a 

 scythe, except on the sides where its ends protruded*. 



Whatever may have been the origin of the metalliferous mass from 

 Battersea, its discovery has at all events served to develope certain 

 peculiarities in the growth of plants which appear to be of high in- 

 terest to the eminent botanists who have examined the parts of this 

 tree which surrounded the supposed meteorite. Unwilling to endea- 

 vour to anticipate the final decision as to the origin of the body in 

 question, I may be permitted to feel a satisfaction that its discoverer 

 brought it to the Establishment of which I am the Director, and 

 which numbers among its officers a Fellow of this Society, who is so 

 well calculated, by his analytical researches, to settle the question on 

 a permanent basis. Should the metallurgical analyses now under the 

 conduct of Dr. Percy lead to the inevitable conclusion that the com- 

 position of this body is different from that of well-authenticated 

 meteorites, and is similar to that of undoubted iron slags, we shall 

 then have obtained proofs of the great circumspection required be- 

 fore we assign a meteoric origin to some of these crystalline iron 

 masses, which though not seen to fall, have, from their containing 

 nickel, cobalt and other elements, been supposed to be formed by 

 causes extraneous to our planet. 



Postscript, 30th June 1855. The following are the analyses above 

 referred to, which have been given to me by Dr. Percy since the 

 preceding notice was read : 



"The slag-like matter (I) attached to the metal in the tree, as well 

 as the similar matter (2) with adherent metal which was found by 



* Many other examples of extraneous bodies found enclosed in the heart of 

 trees have been brought to my notice since this account was written. The most 

 curious of these is perhaps that of an image of the Virgin, which having been 

 placed in a niche had become imbedded by the growth of the tree around it. 



2 s2 



