METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 137 



Some small cavities in it are lined with lamellar crystals resembling those of white pyrites. 



This hydroxide, which serves as a matrix of the metallic iron, is not, judging from my specimens, abundant in the 

 interior of the mass but the exterior of the mass is entirely made up of it. At some places it is about 1 inch thick, 

 while at others it is no more than one-quarter of an inch, showing here and there small points of the metallic iron 

 piercing through it. 



Such are the character and appearances of this mass of the date and circumstances of whose fall nothing is known. 

 It was accidentally discovered near Cosby Creek in the southwestern part of Cocke County, east Tennessee and, as I 

 mentioned above, was considered as silver ore. Indeed, there is yet a fragment of it in the hands of an inhabitant 

 who asks for it $1,500, a sum which would be some hundred dollars too much if it were pure silver. 



CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OP THE DIFFERENT PARTS. 



1. Metallic iron. One hundred grains of the metallic iron were dissolved in diluted hydrochloric acid leaving a 

 residue of half a grain of a black powder, similar to that obtained from the graphite. This solution, being treated with 

 nitric acid to convert the protoxide into peroxide, was precipitated by pure ammonia. The^precipitate being washed 

 and ignited gave 124 grains of peroxide =87 grains of iron. The ammoniacal solution gave 16 grains of protoxide of 

 nickel =12 grains of metallic nickel with a trace of cobalt; loss, half a grain. 



Iron 87.0 



Nickel 12.0 



Carbon 0.5 



Loss... 0.5 



100.0 



2. Graphite. Fifty grains of the graphite, being pulverized and freed by a magnet from intermixed iron, were acted 

 upon with diluted hydrochloric acid. An effervescence took place, with explosion of hydrogen gas, owing to metallic 

 iron which was so intimately mixed with the graphite that it was not attracted by the magnet. After the effervescence 

 ceased it was heated in order to dissolve everything that was soluble. The insoluble part was washed and dried; it 

 was pure carbon and weighed 46.5 grains. 



The hydrochloric solution, being treated with nitric acid to convert the protoxide of iron into peroxide, and pre- 

 cipitated by ammonia, gave peroxide of iron equal to three grains of metallic iron. The filtered solution was treated 

 with pure potassa and a hardly perceptible gray flocculent precipitate was obtained, so that this iron was free from 



nickel. 



Carbon 9.5 



Iron 3.0 



Loss... 0.5 



100.0 



i 



3. Sulphuret of iron. A small fragment of the pyrites was dissolved in diluted hydrochloric acid under a brisk 

 effervescence of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. Part of it was insoluble ; this, after being washed and dried , was exposed to 

 heat, by which the sulphur was sublimed, leaving a black powder. The quantity used was too umall to determine the 

 proportion; it is composed of sulphuret of iron and carbon. 



4. Hydroxide of iron. The hydroxide of iron lost about 17 per cent by being heated and had all the characters of a 

 similar residue from brown ironstone or hematite. 



Shepard 2 gave a further account of the meteorite as follows: 



Having been informed by Mr. Edward C. Herrick that a specimen of meteoric iron existed in the museum of the 

 East Tennessee University of Knoxville, I addressed a letter to President J. Easterbrook of that institution, desiring 

 information upon the subject, and if possible, a fragment for analysis. The president was kind enough to transmit to 

 me a specimen for examination, together with the following notice of its origin. " It is a portion of an irregular mass, 

 which was given me about five years since. The mass, as you have been informed, was discovered in Cocke County. 

 The proprietor resisted for some time all importunities to discover where it was, believing it to be some metal of great 

 value. I assured his agent that it was native iron, and probably meteoric. After he became satisfied of its character, 

 many individuals examined it in place. It was entirely insulated on the surface of the ground, and weighed about 

 700 or 800 pounds. Specimens were obtained from it and dispersed through the country. It was my intention to 

 have purchased and transported the entire mass to Knoxville, until I learned that Dr. Troost. geologist to the State, 

 had obtained the refusal of it. He has since conveyed it to Nashville." 



It turns out, therefore, to be a portion of the mass described by Dr. Troost. 1 Having been presented by Dr. Troost 

 with several fragments, as illustrative of the portion in his hands, I found on comparing them with the specimen sent 

 by president Easterbrook. that the latter differed very much from the former, in external appearance. Unlike to 

 them, it was to a degree free from the plumbaginous and pyritous admixtures' with which they abound. It agreed 

 with them, however, in possessing a coarsely crystalline texture. Its proportion of nickel falls much below that 

 quoted by Dr. Troost; but this is a circumstance which I have found to hold true in the Texas iron, wherein my experi- 

 ments have proved the nickel to vary from 3.2 to 9.6 per cent. The specific gravity of the mass was 6.222. 



