* 





3 



C, U. Shepard on a Meteoric Stone. 135 



about one half per cent of the mass.) In addition to these there 

 are specks of a black, shining mineral, not yet examined. The 

 general analysis is as follows : 



Silica, . . . - - 



Alumina, 

 Protox. iron, 

 Lime^ 



Magnesia, - 

 Manganese, 

 Iron, - 

 Nickel , - 

 Phosphorus, 

 Sulphur, 

 Soda, 



-/ 



49-21 



1105 



20-41 



901 



8-13 



•04 



trace. 



trace, 

 •06 

 ■83 



99-23 



I find the glaze to resemble, in its thickness and general 

 character, that of the Stannern stones; but in its high degree of 



glossiness, it approaches also the Juvenas meteorite. The figure 

 is well described above, as being that of a somewhat oblique 

 rhombic prism. It might perhaps be added, that at its upper or 

 smaller end, there is a tendency to a replacement of the two ob- 

 tuse angles, each by a single plane, thus producing a sort of 

 dihedral summit, whose edge of course coincides with the longer 

 diagonal of the base. The lateral planes, meeting under an 

 obtuse angle, agree in being smooth, together with the re- 

 placing plane of the angle at the upper end of the obtuse edge. 

 The corresponding planes, together with the base^ possess a 

 totally different character, being rough and deeply pitted. This 

 is a property so general in meteorites, as obviously to depend 

 upon a general cause; the nature of which however, it is difficult 

 to conjecture. Sometimes the deeply pitted or undulating sur- 

 face is confined to two sides, in place of extending to three or 

 four ; but it is nevertheless often visible upon at least one third 

 of the general area; and occupies it, without interruption of 

 patches of the smoother kind of surface. The edges of tlie 

 imeven planes are less perfectly defined than of the other planes^ 

 and this is particularly true of the meeting of the two larger 

 ones, in the present instance. 

 ^ The heaviest end of this stone is of course towards its basal 



extremity. It is therefore natural to suppose, that its motion 

 must have been with this end in advance. And it is curious to 

 observe, that there exist a scries of delicate wavy lines travers* 

 ing the crust of the stone from its base, quite to its opposite 

 smaller end, as if they had been produced from the friction of 

 the atmosphere upon its liquified crust. Could the escape of 



