METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 377 



Partsch 5 described the meteorite as follows: 



Groundmass dark gray, sprinkled with light gray and rusty brown spots. The groundmass contains minute cavi- 

 ties and shows numerous spherical aggregates some of which are dull green. Pyrrhotite is present in quantity in 

 minute grains, and as in many other meteorites shows more plainly on a broken than on a polished surface. Iron is 

 moderately abundant. Some of the cavities are coated with pyrrhotite of spherical form and variegated color. In 

 one depression an iron grain is visible. The crust is dult, porous, and apparently easily separable. It is a remark- 

 able meteorite and has a characteristic appearance. 



An additional note by Shepard was as follows: 



This small and highly interesting stone seems to have been but imperfectly invested by the customary black 

 crust. The natural outside of the fragments examined possessed the usual smoothness of surface, but were only par- 

 tially melted. It does not appear that any more perfect coating has ever been attached to the surface. Within, the 

 general color is a dark ash-gray. Interspersed through the mass, however, are freckles of a whitish mineral, which is 

 probably howardite. The gray portion consists of olivinoid and forms at least nine-tenths of the earthy portion of the 

 stone. 



Rose 7 classed Richmond among the trachytic olivine-bearing coarse-grained stone meteor- 

 ites. He also disagreed with Partsch's observation that pyrrhotite was more abundant than 

 nickel iron in the meteorite, stating that the piece in the Berlin collection was of an opposite 

 character. 



Rammelsberg " made two analyses with results as follows: 



I. II. 



Soluble portion. Insoluble portion. Soluble portion. Insoluble portion. 



SiO, 39.27 52.37 39.30 53.74 



AljO, 4.97 5.32 



FeO 18.85 13.% 18.21 13.17 



MgO 41.88 23.28 41.69 22.23 



CaO... 5.43 0.80 5.54 



100 100 100 100 



From which he deduced the following composition: 



Nickel iron 8. 22 



Iron sulphide 4. 37 



Chrysolite 45. 73 



Insoluble silicates. . . . 41. 68 



100 



The insoluble silicates he regarded as augite with bronzite and perhaps diopside. 

 Brezina, in 1885, 1 * classed Richmond among the crystalline chondrites with the following 

 remarks : 



The Richmond stone holds a peculiar place, since its structure is firm but not solid as are the other crystalline 

 chondrites. It forms a somewhat higher grade of crystalline structure in which the individual constituents may be 

 completely separated. It might almost as well be placed among the spherical chondrites, since the chondri, upon 

 breaking the mass in two, sometimes remain whole and sometimes break. 



Cohen " remarked that Shepard's drawing of the crystals of iron sulphide in the Rich- 

 mond stone were a copy of Rose's. Also that the influences which produced the crust zone 

 had in this meteorite affected broader areas, giving rise to a black groundmass. 



Brezina 18 in 1895 transferred Richmond to the group of spherical crystalline chondrites. 



The meteorite is distributed, Yale possessing 305 grams, the British Museum 169, and 

 Amherst 155. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1829: COCKE. Virginia aerolite. Amer. Journ. Sci., 1st ser., vol. 15, pp. 195-196. 



2. 1829: SHEPARD. A mineralogical and chemical description of the Virginia aerolite. Amer. Journ. Sci., 1st ser., 



vol. 16, pp. 191-203. 



3. 1830: VON HOFT. Siebenter Nachtrag. Ann. Phys. und Chem., Poggendorff, Bd. 18, pp. 186-187. 



4. 1843: SHEPARD. On phosphate of lime (apatite), in the Virginia meteoric stone. Amer. Journ. Sci., 1st ser., vol. 



45, pp. 102-103. 



5. 1843: PARTSCH. Meteoriten, p. 40. 



