370 Meteoric Iron of Texas and Lockport. 
Arr. XXXIV. —On the Metconic Ir on of Beige mal | Lacport 
by Prof. B. Struman, Jr., and T. 8. Hounr. 
Srverat notices of the Texas Iron will be found in the former 
series of this Journal.* It was at first said to be not nickeliferous, 
but. Prof. Silliman soon proved this statement to be an error. 
We are indebted to the united cupidity and ignorance of. those 
who procured this fine specimen of celestial matter, for its being 
known to science. 'I'wo costly, armed, and well organized 
expeditions were sent out for it, and inconceivable difficulties were 
encountered in a wilderness among hostile savages, before they at 
last succeeded in bringing it nearly two thousand miles over land 
to the Mississippi, elated with the confident delusion that it was 
platinum. Wehave in our possession a large number of orig 
manuscript documents, which collectively constitute a full histo- 
ry of the discovery and procuring of this specimen. Our lim- 
its do not permit their publication, nor is it necessary that even 
a full abstract of them should be given. A sufficient account 
of these papers will be found in vol. viii, p. 218, of this Jour- 
nal. 
After this mass was presented to the collection i in Yale. College 
by Mrs. Laura. Gibbs—widow of Col. George Gibbs, so well 
known to all cultivators of * mineralogy—a portion of the s ler 
end was sawn off with much difficulty, which when reduced 
to a smooth surface, gave a brilliantly polished face . about 
eight inches in diameter, on which is engraved. an inscription 
commemorative of Col. Gibbs and the donor, and the weight ' of 
the mass—1635 pounds, . This section revealed in a very “perfect 
manner the crystalline structure of the mass, by the broad octa- 
hedral cleavages which appeared at one or two points where 4 
fracture was made. By a planing machine, the surface of the 
* 1. “ Notice of the Malleable Iron of Texas,” viii, 218, (18 24.) This notice cou- 
tains a historical account of the. discovery and af the expeditions of G and 
John Maley to obtain the mass now in the Yale College meinecelogin® collection- 
2. “ Analysis of the meteoric iron of Loumiana, ” by C. U. Shepard, _ 217, 
1829. 
3 A notice of the presentation of this mass to Yale College by Mrs. Gibbs, 
: “4. Some farther facts concerning the locality and othér masses of metallic iron 
staan tor Fe ana 
i 
Mat 
