468 NATURAL HISTORY. 



with rough surface, very tough and hard ; contains nickel 

 and several other metals. Whether or not native iron is 

 of terrestrial origin, is a question of some doubt ; it is by 

 many believed to be found pure only in meteoric stones 

 (stones which have fallen from the heavens). The phen- 

 omena of iron rain, or the falling of single stones, al- 

 though rare, have really occurred at certain periods, also 

 in masses like stones, of large size and in considerable 

 numbers.* Meteoric stones are always hot when they 

 reach the earth, on account of the great rapidity with 

 which they descend. Many opinions have been formed 

 respecting their origin ; some (the fewest number) believe 

 them to be the ruins of some disruptured sphere ; this 

 conjecture is, however, very improbable ; others have 

 supposed them to be the germs of those newly existing 

 bodies, called Asteroids; and a third party contend that 

 they are the ejections of some mighty volcano in the 

 moon. This opinion, supported as it is by astronomical 

 observation, is the most probable conclusion, yet, how 

 they have been produced must ever remain a mystery. 

 H. = 5.0 to 6.0. G. = 6.0 to 7.8. The chemical 

 sign for iron is 6 . 



Native Copper is met with in crystallized forms, vari- 

 ously modified, sometimes also in massive shapes, arbor- 

 escent, filiform, and loosely disseminate in minute par- 

 ticles. Color copper red, often brown and yellow stri- 

 ated ; luster metallic, opaque, ductile, malleable ; dis- 

 solves readily in nitric acid, and produces a blue solution 

 with ammonia. Found in the primary and transition 

 rock formations in Hungary, Sweden. Norway, Siberia, 



* One of the most extraordinary of these meteorites is preserved 

 in the cabinet of Yale College; weighs 1635 pounds; length b feet 

 4 inches ; breadth 2 feet, 4 inches ; height 1 foot, 4 inches. 



