THE RICHARDTON METEORITE 439 



of Richardtofi, however, the troiKte and iron seem clearly to be 

 contemporaneous . 



Polished surfaces, parallel to a vein and cutting the vein, 

 totaling a surface of 10 sq. cm., show nickel iron containing 

 irregular grains of troilite, in which there are three specks 

 of metalHc copper, the largest grain measuring about 0.6 by 

 o . 08 mm. This seems to be the first report of metallic copper 

 in a meteorite. Copper has been determined in traces by 

 chemical analysis, but the character of its occurrence was un- 

 known. It has been remarked before that, whatever the con- 

 ditions under which metallic iron and nickel are deposited in these 

 and similar veins in meteorites, the conditions must have been 

 reducing in the extreme. It is not surprising, therefore, that, 

 with iron in the reduced forms of ferrous sulphide and metal, 

 copper also should be metallic. Copper inclosed in iron sulphide, 

 which is also inclosed in metallic iron, may suggest that some of 

 the sulphur was once in combination with the copper, previous to 

 reduction of the metals. 



A determination of the specific gravity of two small specimens 

 without metalHc veins, weighing 168 and 127 gm. respectively, 

 gave the result 3.76. Specimens with veins would yield a higher 

 specific gravity determination. 



Following is an analysis by J. E. Whitfield, for privilege of 

 early pubKcation of which we are indebted to Dr. George P. Merrill, 

 of the National Museum : 



Percentage 



Metallic portion 1990 



Silicate portion 80 . 10 



The metallic portion yielded as follows : 



Percentage 



Fe . • 90 . 89 



Ni 8.92 



Co 0.15 



P 0.04 



100.00 



