708 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 
of iron, the spaces being filled with a yellow crystalline mineral 
(olivine?) which was examined separately from the iron, and 
found to contain the following constituents, the bases being 
separated from the silica. 
Composition oF THE Non-Metatiic Portion or THE [Ron 
MeETEOoRITE FROM ATACAMA. 
Alkali and Alkaline Earth Metals.—Sodium, potassium, mag- 
nesium, calcium, and a trace of strontium present as oxides or 
silicates. 
Heavy Metals—Iron, nickel, chromium, copper, silver, lead, 
and a trace of manganese as oxide or silicates. 
Professor Norman Lockyer has examined the photographie are 
spectra of iron meteorites, Phil. Trans., vol. 185, p. 1028, using as 
poles pieces of the meteoric irons from the British Museum, 
known as the Nejed and Obernkirchen meteorites. The range of 
spectrum was from about 5892 (D) to 3933 (K). In addition to 
iron the following substances were declared to be certainly present :— 
Manganese, cobalt, nickel, chromium, titanium, copper, barium, 
calcium, sodium, and potassium. Others were said to be probably 
present, namely, strontium, lead, lithium, molybdenum, vanadium, 
- didymium, uranium, tungsten, yttrium, osmium, and aluminium. 
The general conclusions arrived at were that the two meteorites 
agreed very closely in composition, that there was a very consider- 
able similarity between the spectra of the meteorites and that of 
the Sun, the lines having the same relative intensity as those in 
the solar spectrum. The presence of copper was supposed to be 
probably due to copper wire being used to bind the pieces of iron 
to the poles of the are lamp, as neither flame nor spark spectra 
confirmed the presence of copper. It may here be remarked, 
however. that the most prominent lines in the spectrum of copper 
lie in a region far beyond K in the ultra-violet, and were therefore 
not within Lockyer’s range of observation, when produced either 
by are, spark, or flame. There were 43 lines for which no origin 
was suggested, 29 being apparently coincident with lines in Kayser 
and Runge’s iron spectrum. It was shown that the chief chemical 
differences between the two meteorites was a preponderance of 
