OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 239 



1874, May 14th, 2.30 p.m. — Castalia, Nash Co., N. Carolina. 

 [Lat. 36° 11', long. 77° 50'.]* 



A short notice in ' Silliman's Journal ' states that the descent of these me- 

 teorites, numbering a dozen or more, was accompanied with a series of explo- 

 sions and rumbling noises which lasted about four minutes, and were " not 

 unlike the discharge of firearms in a battle a few miles off." Although the 

 fall took place by day, a luminous body was observed. The area over which 

 the fragments fell was ten miles long and three wide. Three stones, weigh- 

 ing 5-5, I'O, aud 0*8 kilog., have been found. The dull-coloured crust does 

 not entirely cover the stones, the fused matter forming it being scattered over 

 some small parts of the surface in the form of pear-shaped beads ; in one or 

 two crevices the fused material has penetrated 5 millims. below the surface, 

 and here it is more brilliant than on the surface. 



The colour of the interior is in many parts of a dark grey, owing to the 

 presence of a larger amount of nickel-iron ; in the lighter portions are seen 

 some white spots of a mineral that is doubtless enstatite. The specific gravity 

 of the stone is 2-601, and its proximate composition : — 



Nickel-iron 15-21 



Soluble silicate 44-92 



Insoluble silicate 39-87 



The metallic part consists of 100-00 



Iron =92-12; Nickel =6-20; Cobalt =98-73; 

 and the siliceous portions of 



SiO., AI2O3 FeO MgO NajO S 



A. Soluble 38-01 0-46 17-51 41-27 1-01 = 98-26 



B. Insoluble 52-61 480 13-21 2731 1-38 ... = 99-31 



The soluble silicate is an olivine in which the ratio of MgO to Fe is about 

 4:1; the insoluble part is a bronzite ; and in addition to the minerals already 

 mentioned, the presence in the Castalia stones of smaU amount of iron sul- 

 phide and anorthite was recognized. 



1874, May 20th.— Virba, near Vidin, Turkey 



This meteorite fell with a loud noise, and entered the ground to the depth 

 of one metre ; it weighed 3-60 kilogs. A fragment presented to the Paris 

 collection by His Excellency Safvet Pacha is covered with the usual dull 

 black crust : a fractured surface shows the meteorite to have a light-grey 

 colour and a very finely grained texture, with grains of metal distributed 

 through the mass; in certain parts spherular structure is apparent. In a 

 microscopic section it was found that the transparent and almost entirely 

 colourless stony particles act on polarized light. The metallic portion is 

 nickel-iron, the presence of an iron sulphide is recognized by the nction of 

 acid, and numerous small black grains of chromite are distributed thioughout 

 the stone. A part of the siliceous constituents gelatinize with acid, indicatiug 

 the presence of olivine ; and a residue, which resists the action and consti- 

 tutes less than one half of the weight of the stone, is believed to be enstatite. 



The Virba stone belongs to the large class of which the meteorite of Luce, 

 Sarthe, France (1708, September 13th), may be taken as the type; and is 



* J. L. Smith, ' Araer. Journ. Sc' 3rd ser. vol. viii. p. 147. 

 t Q. A. Daubree, ' Comptes Rendiis,' vol. Isxu.. p. 276. 



