September 25, 1890] 



NATURE 



527 



founci, it was oni a hard and stony surface, but I have been 

 unable to obtain 'any other particulars, as the finder has long 

 since passed away to the majority. 



Mr. O'Brien gave the meteor to Mr. Patrick Harrold, of 

 Mount Hope, near Cootamundra, and it has been in his keeping 

 ever since ; until, on March 30, 1890, he was induced by Mr. 

 William R. Eury, Inspector under the State Children's Relief 

 Branch, to send it to me. Mr. Eury, as soon as he saw the 

 meteor, pointed out to Mr. Harrold the great scientific interest 

 attaching to it, and that undoubtedly the proper place for it was 

 in the Observatory, where a collection of these so-called shootinsj 



stars is being made, and upon this, Mr. Harrold sent it to me. 



I am very much indebted to both of these gentlemen for enrich- 

 ing the Observatory collection by this most interesting specimen 

 of a metallic meteor. Our museum for meteors now contains 

 six. 



In appearance this meteor is like rusty iron, and it has a very 

 irregular outline, which seems to have resulted from the oxida- 

 tion or solution of rounded masses, which had solidified with 

 the iron, and upon removal formed cavities. In size it measures 



I I inches x 7^ inches. Two of these are so placed that they 

 look like the orbits in an o.v's skull, a suggestion borne out by 



the general outline, which is not unlike the bone in question. 

 In one place a hole nearly i inch in diameter and i^ inch deep, 

 has been made straight into the solid iron, and there seems to 

 be little doubt that, when the iron originally cooled down from 

 its gaseous state, it did so in the presence of these rounded and 

 symmetrical masses, which impressed their form on the plastic 

 iron as it solidified. These, as I have already suggested, have 

 no doubt been removed since they reached the earth's atmo- 

 sphere. 



A meteor which fell in New England in November last was 

 seen to have a spiral motion, emitting steam or smoke in jets. 

 Looking at the holes in this meteor, one can see at once that if, 



when it reached the atmosphere, they were charged with some 

 substance that would burn freely in the oxygen of the air, this 

 solid ma-iS of iron would have twisted about under the influence 

 of the many gas-jets from the burning masses in its sides. 



I find its specific gravity is 7-57 and its weight is 71 pounds 

 (70 pounds 14 ounces). Meteoric iron is, I think, never quite 

 pure, and masses of it vary very considerably in specific gravity. 

 Taking five at random which fell in ditTerent parts of the earth, 

 it varies in them from 7-38 to 7*82, and the mean happens to be 

 7 "62, almost exactly the same as the one before us. 



This meteor has not been analyzed yet. 



July 26 ' a H. C. RussELL. 



NO. 109 1, VOL. 42] 



