METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 437 



Since we met I have obtained a second piece of that iron, which was cut from the mass sent by Stein. It has the 

 advantage of the former firm and compact piece, in that its structure is plainly visible without any etching. A flat 

 exterior is, as it were, cleft in two directions which correspond to the structure. Upon this exterior a few large reen- 

 trant angles are present, which likewise indicates the structure. As can be readily seen on the etched surface of the 

 first piece, the lines running in one direction are more distinct and less interrupted than those running in the other 

 direction. In the direction of the first occur several parallel clefts, which are so loosened that it would require com- 

 paratively little force to separate the piece into several lamellae. I have never seen a similar appearance in any other 

 meteoric iron. 



Berthier * described as follows a specimen obtained from Humboldt: 



It was very pure, without scoria, but very ductile and tenacious; it may be bent and twisted several times in 

 the same place before it will break. It contained 0.0862 per cent nickel, or about 1 atom of nickel to 12 of iron, but 

 no trace of cobalt or chromium was obtained, nor of combined carbon. 



Alzate Ramirez, 7 in 1831, reported concerning the meteorites as follows: 



From time immemorial no iron has found its way to the town of Xiquipilco and to the neighboring haciendas for 

 the necessary purposes. The Indians of Xiquipilco collect what they can, for it is not abundant; the owners of the 

 haciendas of Indege and Santa Isabel barter for it with the Indians who chance to find it, generally at the beginning 

 of the rains, when it becomes visible among the soil. The Indians of Xiquipilco make spades and axes of the iron, 

 and the owners of the said haciendas use it for plows. About the year 1776, I went to Xiquipilco to see with my 

 own eyes the famed native iron. I found two smiths established in the town who worked the native iron; and in my 

 sight they forged it and worked it into the shape demanded of them. 



Partsch 8 described the Vienna specimen as follows: 



Native iron, compact without visible admixture of other minerals. In a small piece in the collection, which, 

 besides one strongly etched surface, possesses only hammered faces, even troilite is lacking. Widmannstatten figures 

 appear on etching with acids, at least on the piece in the collection. This shows striations according to two directions 

 or occasionally three directions. The piece in the Vienna Museum is triangular and is from a mass weighing about 

 a pound, which lay in a field and was used by the Indians for an axe. One strongly etched surface shows Widmann- 

 statten figures, while the natural surface has a granular character. 



In 1853 Noggerath 9 gave the following brief note regarding the etching figures (see also 

 page 499, under Zacatecas) : 



Widmannstatten figures were produced upon this meteroite by etching, and the specimen also showed surfaces 

 upon which these figures stood out in relief, as is customary in the case of steel. The iron showed, in the Widmann- 

 statten figures, the peculiar structure of meteoric iron very distinctly. The design was finer in the case of Toluca 

 than in that of Zacatecas. 



In 1854 Uricoechea 10 made the following analysis of Toluca iron: 



According to Partsch this iron has been known since 1784 and came from Xiquipilco, north of Toluca, in Mexico. 

 Several years ago a large piece was brought to Europe by Stein of Darmstadt. Professor W5hler obtained several frag- 

 ments of this piece from Liebig weighing together about 10.5 ounces. It is distinguished by the fine figures produced 

 thereon by etching which show all the peculiarities which Partsch, for example, described in the case of the Elbogen 

 iron. Upon the somewhat oxidized surface it has, like the iron from Arva, tolerably large scales of schreibersite of a 

 yellowish-white color and metallic luster; there are also isolated particles of grayish-yellow iron sulphide cropping 

 out here and there. 



As there is but one analysis of this iron extant, and as this is evidently incomplete, namely, that of Berthier, which 

 only determined the iron and nickel contents, at the instigation of Professor Wohler, I made a new analysis of it and used 

 for the purpose the filings which were produced by the cutting of the above-mentioned pieces. These were treated 

 with ether in order to remove the oil which was used in sawing. I do not consider it necessary to describe the method of 

 analysis since it was the same as used by Prof. Wohler in his analysis of Rasgata. 



For the analysis 5.1334 grams were employed. The hydrogen developed by dissolving in HC1 smelled like hydro- 

 gen sulphide and gave a slight precipitate in a lead solution. After complete decomposition by the acid, washing and 

 drying, there remained .211 gram or 4.11 per cent of a black, insoluble residue. 



Under a magnification of 80 diameters, this residue showed an appearance like that obtained by Wohler from the 

 iron of Rasgata. It consisted (1) of metallic, crystalline particles which were attracted by the magnet. These were 

 nickel-iron phosphide. They formed the principal quantity of the residue. (2) Grains of a milk-white color. (3) 

 Colorless, vitreous grains. (4) Brownish-yellow, olivinelike grains. (5) A single grain of a ruby-red mineral such 

 as had also been observed by Wohler in this iron in an incomplete analysis, and finally (6) a sky-blue, transparent 

 mineral which seemed to be crystallized and resembled the zircon from Vesuvius. A similar blue mineral was found 

 in Rasgata by Wohler and referred by him to sapphire. By treatment with aqua regia, the 4.11 per cent of residue 

 was divided into 2.99 per cent of nickel-iron phosphide and 1.11 per cent insoluble mineral, the colorless grains of 

 which may have been in part introduced sand grains. 



