190 Miscellanies. 



might permit. The Peacock, commanded by Lieut. Hudson, attended 

 by the schooner Flying Fish, departed at the same time, on a similar voy- 

 age, but by a different route. No tidings concerning their success have yet 

 reached us. The Vincennes, under command of Lieut. Craven, is to be 

 employed during their absence, in surveying in the vicinity of Orange 

 Harbor. The Relief, having on board several members of the scientific 

 corps, was dispatched for a like period, on a cruise through the straits of 

 Magellan, but in making the attempt to enter by the Cockburn Channel, 

 she encountered a succession of violent vi'inds, and about the last of 

 March, narrowly escaped shipwreck in a storm near Noir Island. On 

 this occasion the Relief lost four anchors. For this reason she did not 

 continue the cruise, but sailed for Valparaiso, where she arrived on the 

 15th April, 1839. Throughout the squadron, health and harmony have 

 prevailed, among both officers and men. 



8. Cold BoJckevcld Meteorites. — Our last number contained a brief ac- 

 count of the fall of a large meteorite at Cold Bokkeveld, near the Cape of 

 Good Hope, October 13, 1838. By notices in the Lond. and Ed. Phil. 

 Blag. May, 1839, it appears that instead of a single meteoric mass, great 

 numbers of stones were thrown down, and according to one statement 

 they were scattered in one line of direction throughout the space of 150 

 miles. The explosion was " louder and more appalling than the strongest 

 artillery, causing the air to vibrate for upwards of 80 miles in every direc- 

 tion." The following analysis by Sir M. Faraday, of a piece of one of 

 these meteorites forwarded to Sir J. F. W. Herschel, was communicated 

 by the latter to the Royal Society, at its session of March 21, 1839. 



" The stone is stated as being soft, porous and hygrometric ; having, 

 when dry, the specific gravity of 2.94 ; and possessing a very small degree 

 of magnetic power irregularly dispersed through it. One hundred parts 

 of the stone, in its natural state, were found to consist of the following 

 constituents, namely : 



Water, - - - 6.50 Alumina, - - - 5.22 



Sulphur, - - - 4.24 Lime, - - - - 1.64 



Silica, - - -28.90 Oxide of Nickel, .82 



Protox. of Iron, 33.22 Oxide of Chromium, .70 



Magnesia, - - 19.20 Cobalt and Soda, a trace. 



9. Meteoric Iron from Potosi. — H, M. Juben, a lieutenant in the 

 French Navy, among other minerals which had been presented to him, 

 brought from Peru a piece of meteoric iron found near Potosi in Bolivia ; it 

 was stated to him to be meteoric iron of great purity ; it is cavernous, being 

 filled with vacuities, most of which ate irregular, but some have the form 

 of a rhombic dodecahedron ; some of them also are filled with a greenish 

 vitreous substance similar to the Olivine of Pallas. No traces whatever 



