220 METEORIC STONES. 



and towards the stony substances. M. Proust, a considerable 

 time before the date of Mr. Howard's discoveries, had proved 

 that the enormous mass of native iron found in South 

 America, contained a large portion of nickel in its composi- 

 tion. Mr. Howard was led to the same conclusion by ana- 

 lyzing another portion of this body ; and he found that the 

 solitary masses discovered in Siberia, Bohemia, and Senegal, 

 contained a mixture of the same metal with iron, though in 

 various proportions. The Bohemian iron is an alloy, of 

 which nickel forms eighteen parts in the hundred ; in the 

 Siberian iron, it forms seventeen : and in the Senegal iron, 

 five or six. But what is still more striking, and tends to 

 place the similarity of their origin beyond all doubt, the 

 Siberian mass is interspersed with cavities, containing an 

 earthy substance of the very same nature as the earthy 

 cement and globules of the Benares stone ; nay, the propor- 

 tions of the ingredients, according to Mr. Howard's analysis, 

 are nearly alike, if we except that of the oxide of iron, which 

 is considerably smaller in the Siberian earth. This curious 

 fact excites the strongest prepossession in favour of the idea, 

 that the Siberian iron owes its origin to the same causes 

 which formed and projected the different stones supposed to 

 have fallen on the earth : and, coupled with the other details 

 of the analysis, it naturally leads us to conclude, that the 

 masses of native iron, as they are called, differ in no respect 

 from the metallic particles, or the alloy of iron and nickel, 

 which constitute one of the four aggregate parts in every 

 stone hitherto examined. 



It may be remarked, that, excepting the tradition of the 

 Tartars respecting the fall of the Siberian iron from heaven, 

 no external evidence has been preserved to illustrate the 

 origin of those masses of native metal which have been ana- 

 lyzed by chemists. A tolerably authentic testimony has, 

 however, lately been found, to prove the fall of a similar 

 body in the East Indies. Mr. Greville has communicated to 

 the Royal Society (Phil. Trans. 1803, part I.), a very interest- 

 ing document, translated from the Emperor Tchangire's 



