METEORITE; 



139 



Mtuorite. were detached from it with much difficulty, and re- 

 ^^Y"*" vealed an internal crystaUiz.uion, not previoualy noticed 

 in meteoric iron. From the observations and experi- 

 aanli of Dr. Wollaston on the specimens transmitted 

 to him, it appears that the texture of this iron is not 

 only crystalline, but that it is disposed to break in the 

 forms of the regular octohedron and tetr.ilu-dron, or in 

 the rhomboid, a combination of hotli tbe*e form*. 



" Though the fragments," observe* tile Dr. " we 

 not in the least attract! . c as magnets, and have in them- 

 selves no polarity; they arc pretij.lv like any other 

 piece* of the best soft irua, and assume polarity instant- 

 ly, according to the position ,n which they are lield with 

 napect to the magnetic axis of the earth. When a 

 long fragment is held in a vertical position, iu lower 

 extremity being then within SOP of the dip of the 

 north magnetic pole, becomes north, and repels the 

 north pole of a magnetic needle suspended horizon- 

 tally. But this power is in taiitly reversed, by being 



suddenly inverted : so tiiat the apparent 



between the observed polarity of the mass, and the 



seeming want of it in the fragments, is thus completely 



removed. 



reasonably expected, that 

 the many others now on 



' Although Mr. Mornay re 

 this iron would not differ from 



record that have been found in various parts of the 

 world, and (ram his experiments was led to infer the 

 presence of nickel, it appeared desirable to ascertain 

 this point with more precision than he had been ena- 

 bled to do, and to determine also in what proportion 

 this peculiar ingndi.-nt of meteoric bodies might In- 

 found to prevail.'' Then, after detailing the steps of 

 Jus process, be thus conclu 



" From the presence of nickel in this mass, we can- 

 not but regard it as having the same meteoric origin with 

 the various other sp*cMM that have been found ; and 

 although in the spot whence it had been first removed 

 Mr. Mornay discovered a bed of nutter, from which it 

 appear*, by analysis, that similar iron might be formed 

 by art, it seems by far more probable that .an opposite 

 change has really taken place, aid that the whole of 

 .opposed or* is the rerakt of progressive oxidation 

 during a series "f years, of which we have no other evi- 

 dence, and affords the sole ground on which a conjec- 

 ture ciHil'l be farmed of the very remote period at which 

 this problematic body has fallen upon the earth." 



-e the expulsion of the Spaniards from the pro- 

 vince of the great Chaco Gulamba, the country situa- 

 ted to the sooth of the river Vermejo, and to the wen 

 of the Parana, hat been mostly abandoned. A few In- 

 dians only inhabit the district of St. Jagodel Estero, to 

 gather the honey and bees>wmx which abound in lite 

 woods. These Indians discovered, in the middle of a 

 very extended plain, a considerable mats of metal, 

 which they reported to be iron. When the viceroy of 

 Peru was appriied of this discover}-, he was struck 

 with the singularity of the phenomenon, because there 

 are no hills in that part of the country, and scarcely a 

 tone of any description is to be found within a circum- 

 ference of a hundred leagues. Some individuals, re- 

 gardless of every danger, and stimulated by the pro- 

 spect of gain, repaired to the spot to obtain tome por- 

 tions of the metal, and actually conveyed specimens of 

 it to Lima and Madrid ; but the only fruit of their 

 toil*, was the assurance that the substance with which 

 they had loaded themselves was very fine and malleable 

 iron. According to these adventurers, the vein ex- 

 t. n<led several leagues, and promised an abundant pro- 

 duce. The viceroy of Rio de la Plata, therefore, dis- 

 patched Don Celis to examine the mas* with greater c- 



curacy, and to fix some settlers in the neighbourhood, if Meteorite, 

 he should judge the working beueficial. C'elis depart- *~"V r ' 

 ed, accordingly, from Itio .^alado, on the 3d of February, 

 ITS.i, accompanied by the requisite attendant; ; and, 

 ,-ertoruiing a journey of seventy leagues, through a 

 fine level country, he reached thes|>ot, which, agreeably 

 to his observations, is in a?" sJS' of south latitude. He 

 found the ferruginous mass mostly buried in pure clay. 

 Its external surface was very compact; but, on break- 

 nf piecea from it, he perceived that its substance 

 wa.s full of cavities, as if the whole had at one time un- 

 dergone tii-ion. In the course of separating 2.5 or 30 

 bits, the seventy chisels with which he had been fur- 

 nished, were rendered useless. On removing the sur- 

 rounding earth, he observed that all the surface which 

 had been covered by the soil was imotcd with a layer 

 of rut, of about six inches thick, and which he ascribed 

 to the humidity of the ground. Having rent it in two 

 different place* by the force of gunpowder, he examin- 

 ed the deepest chasm, and found it precisely of the 

 same nature with that of the surface, and also with the 

 earth which was dux nt a hundred paces to the east and 

 weat of the mass. A he could not conceive the latter, 

 under the circumstances in which he found it, to be 

 produced hy any natural process, or conveyed by hu- 

 man iite-iiis, he presumed that it must have been pro- 

 jected by some volcanic explosion. According to its 

 cubical measure, and allowing a specific gravity some- 

 what greater than that of iron, this enormous mass 

 should weigh about 300 quintals. 



. .e largest specimen of these substances which Durance- 

 has ever been de-cribed," observes Mr. Southey " ha* 

 escaped the notice of all the philosophers who have 

 written upon the subject. 



' Wnlkennaer, in a note to Axara's Travels, upon the 

 mass of iron and nickel found in the Chaco, says that 

 two other such masses have been discovered ; one 

 which Pallas has described, and one which was dug up 

 at Aken, near Magdeburg. Caspar de Villagra, in his 

 Hitturia de la Nutria Mexico, mentions a fourth, evi- 

 dently of the same nature as these, and considerably 

 larger than the largest of them. The tradition of the 

 natives concerning it, supports the most probable theory 

 of its origin. A demon, in the form of an old woman, 

 appeared to two brothers, who were leading a horde or 

 swarm of the ancient Mexicans, in sesrch of a new 

 country ; she told them to separate, and threw down 

 this block of iron, which she carried on her head, to be 

 the boundary between them. 



\ illagra describes it as something like the back of 

 a tortoise in shape, and in weight about eight hundred 

 quintals; he calls it massy iron ; it was smooth, without 

 the slightest rust, and there was neither mine near it, 

 nor vein of metal, nor any kind of stone any way re- 

 sembling it. 



The latitude where this is found is 27 N. The his- 

 tory of the expedit'on which VilUgra accompanied, fur- 

 nishes some clue for seeking the spot, and it might pro- 

 bably be discovered with little expence of time or la- 

 bour, by a party travelling from Mexico to Monterry." 



Ilum/Mihli'i account of the Mexican sky-stone, re- 

 duces the above dimensions something more than a 

 half; but still it remains greatly larger than any other 

 that has been yet descovered. " In the environs of 

 Durango," says this philosophic traveller, " is to be 

 found insulated in the plain, the enormous mass of malle- 

 able iron and nickel, which is of the identic il c<>ni|>osi- 

 tion of the aerolithos which fell in 1751, at Hraschinn, 

 \^ram, in Hungary. Specimens were communi- 

 cated to me by the learned director of the Tribunal dc 



