336 REPOET -1875. 



as excellently reproduced and completed up to a very recent date by G. F. 

 Chambers in his ' Handbook of Descriptive Astronomy.' Orbits of comets of 

 more recent dates (since the year 1866) were extracted from M. A. Guillemin'a 

 comprehensive and exceediugly accurate descriptive work ' Les Cometes.' The 

 figures in the last column of the Table represent actual speeds of penetration 

 or of flight through the atmosphere of meteoric particles proceeding from 

 the comets, including the small additional velocities given to them by the 

 earth's attraction. A Table for obtaining these, and complete Tables for 

 other calculations included in these lists, are given (at the place above 

 quoted) in SchiapareUi's work. 



Researches on Meteorites, and accounts of their recent falls or discovery. — As 

 will be gathered from the following abstracts of papers and communications 

 relating to these subjects, great progress continues to be made in the investi- 

 gation of the origin of meteorites, and of the circumstances which attend 

 their fall. The first of these communications on the recent falls of Meteorites 

 (Part I.), and that on the latest analytical researches and examinations of their 

 structui'e (Part II.), contain descriptions of many such new occurrences and 

 interesting observations on them which have hitherto been scarcely accessible 

 to English readers, owing to the foreign languages and publications in which 

 the original papers describing most of these particulars appeared ; the 

 following brief analyses and abstracts of their principal contents having accord- 

 ingly been reproduced from his extensive summary of such recent contribu- 

 tions to aerohtic literature in the ' Geological Magazine ' of the present year 

 by Dr. Plight, they are presented here concisely and in a convenient arrange- 

 ment for reference in this Report. 



Part I. — Meteorites wJiich have been seen to fall, or have been found, between 

 August 1873 and April 1875. By Waiter Plight. 



1873, August 24th. — Marysville, California*. 

 All the facts that I have yet been able to gather respecting this fall are 

 that an aerolite, weighing 12 lbs., crashed through the tree-tops with a bright 

 flash, and was buried to the unusual depth of eight feet in the ground. When 

 dug out it was so hot that it could not be handled. 



Pound 1873, August 27th. — Eisenberg, Saxe-Altenburg, Germanyf. 

 A block of metal, weighing 1-579 kilog., was left exposed on the surface of 

 the ground at the foot of the Schneckenberg, north of the Eisenberg, by a 

 heavy thunder-shower washing away the surrounding soil. It is a finely gra- 

 nular iron, through which are disseminated here and there yellow particles 

 of magnetic pyrites or troilite. Unlike metallic masses of undoubted meteoric 

 origin, it contains neither nickel nor cobalt ; when etched with nitric acid it 

 exhibits, in place of figures, minute star-like forms. It has the composition : — 



Iron 97-27 



Phosphorus 0'21 



Carbon 0-44 



Silicic acid 1-50 



Graphite 090 



100-32 

 The presence of silica was confirmed by treating the white, amorphous, some- 

 what rounded particles which remained iindissolved with hydrofluoric acid. 



* Nature, 1st January, 1874. (From ' Iron.') 



+ H. B. Geinitz, ' Sitzungs-Ber. der Isis zu Dresden,' 1874-75. 



