218 PETEOLoer. 



grey colour, and exhibit compact crypto-erjstalline structure. One 

 specimen has the specific gravity 3*66. "W. F. 



NoRDENSKioLD, A. E. TJeber kosmischen Staub der mit atmospharischen 



Niederschlagen auf die Erdoberflache herabfallt. [Cosmical Bust.] 



Pogg. Ann., Bd. cli. pp. 154-165 ; also Journ. prak. Chem. Bd. ix. 



pp. 356-367. 



Concludes, from an examination of snow from several localities, that 



small quantities of cosmical dust are brought to the surface of the earth 



by atmospheric precipitates. This dust contains metallic iron, cobalt, 



nickel, phosphoric acid, and organic matter. Compares dust collected 



from snow on Spitzbergen with that found on the surface of ice in 



Greenland, and called Cryoconite. Description and analyses of cryo- 



conite are given. [See also p. 109.] F. "W. R. 



PiEiisoN-, W. M. See Adden^da. 



PisANi, P. Analyse d'une Meteorite tombee dans la province de 

 Huesca en Espagne. Compt. Eend. t. Ixxix. pp. 1507-1509. 



This stone (1871) was probably about the size of a fist; it was 

 covered with a black crust, and has an ashy grey interior, in which 

 greenish grains of peridot, some several millimetres in diameter, can 

 be distinguished. Only 17*45 per cent, of the meteorite is broken 

 up by acid. The soluble part appears to be an olivine with a little 

 anorthite ; that which is insoluble, a bronzite according to Daubree ; 

 Pisani, on the other hand, considers it to be hypersthene. The ratio of 

 the iron oxide to magnesia is the same as that of the bronzites of Hain- 

 holz, Shalka, Burkart, and other meteorites. One well-marked cleavage 

 of this mineral was noticed, as well as a second less perfectly developed. 

 The angle of the optic axis, measured in oil, makes 2H=104°. The 

 bisectrix is negative '; but whether it is the acute or obtuse bisectrix 

 was not determined. Daubree founds his belief that the chief consti- 

 tuent of the Roda stone is bronzite on the absence of dichroism, the 

 frequence of the right angle in the contour of the crystals, and the 

 fineness of the striae. This meteorite, with the single exception that 

 it contains no iron, bears a close resemblance to the Ledran stone 

 (1868, October 1), and establishes a link between cosmical rocks and 

 those of our planet. W. E. 



Sipocz, L. Meteorit von Orvinio. Min. Mitt. Heft 3, pp. 244-246. 

 Analyses of meteorites from Orvinio, near Rome. 



Smith, J. Laweence. On a mass of Meteoric Iron of Howard Co., 



Indiana ; with some remarks on the molecular structure of meteoric 



Iron, and a notice concerning the presence of solid protochloride of 



iron in meteorites. Amer. Journ. ser. 3, vol. vii. pp. 391-395. 



A meteoric iron weighing 4 kilograms was dug up by a farmer in 



1862, but lost sight of for some years. It contained iron 87 per 



cent., and nickel 12-3 ; etched with acid it showed no figures. It is 



suggested that the absence of figures is due to rapid cooling, that under 



slow cooling the phosphides of nickel and iron show a tendency to sepa- 



