364 C. U. Shepard on Meteoric Iron from Cayuga Co., N.Y. 
After the corrosion has been permitted to go on for a number 
of minutes, the linear intervals above mentioned, exhibit a 
checked appearance, as if a single row of little prisms had been 
inserted between the broad bars. ‘These prisms evidently con- 
sist of the same alloy as the broad pillars, between which they 
are thrust, since their tops, like the surfaces of the bars, escape 
corrosion, and are left after the action has ceased at the same 
level with the bars themselves. ‘Their presence, in the peculiar 
position they occupy, confers upon this iron a very remarkable 
feature, totally unlike any other I have seen. Indeed in all other 
ighly crystalline specimens, we have a series of perfectly con- 
tinuous lines and edges, in place of the checkered rows here 
displayed. 
The shaded triangular and rhomboidal areas, when their sur- 
faces are well cleaned by a dilute aqua regia (and polished), and 
examined under a lens, are seen to be finely striated with the 
same beaded or checkered lines as those above described in the 
linear intervals. 
The more circumscribed areas (three of which are represented 
in the central bar of the figure) consist of a silver-white muine- 
ral, believed to be new; and which will be more particularly de- 
scribed farther on. This substance is not acted upon by the hy- 
drochloric acid; but an envelop of meteoric pyrites, by which 
it is more or less surrounded, is briskly attacked: and from these 
regions the odor of sulphuretted hydrogen is plainly perceived. 
At a place marked A in the figure, is a semicircular vein of this 
white mineral, where the pyrites is quite abundant. 
The want of continuity in the larger bars and their rounded 
terminations also, serve still farther to distinguish at first glance, 
the Seneca River iron from nearly all others. hi 
A solution of sulphate of copper dropped upon a moistened 
surface of the iron, immediately gives rise to a precipitate of me- 
tallic copper. It is therefore not in the passive state of the 
reene county (Tenn.) iron, and of some others, as discovered 
by Wohler. 
Beneath the coating of limonite is found a very distinct layer 
of compact, black magnetite, which must have constituted no 
original crust of the meteor. Its thickness in some places }8 rs 
of an inch. The specific gravity of the iron is 7°337.. ish, 
At possesses a medium hardness, and takes a very high pol all 
» Which is remarkable for its whiteness. The easy 
Cleavage in the Seneca River mass is very obvious; and W 
* The Burlington iron was found 90 miles to the eastward of the present mass 
