214 Miscellaniee. 



Lead being a metal easily eliminated, and incapable of interfering in 

 any of the subsequent processes, its introduction seemed not likely to 

 prove any source of further embarrassment; a few drops of dilute nitrate 

 of lead were therefore added ; and being well mixed, as much sulphuric 

 acid as would saturate the lead, and a little more, was added, and the 

 whole boiled. The precipitation was complete, the lead carrying down 

 with it all the suspended ferruginous matter, and leaving a clear liquid of 

 a greenish hue, in which the presence of lead cojild not be detected. 



The remaining iron held in solution was removed by heating it with 

 excess of carbonate of lime, in the manner pointed out by me in the Phil, 

 Trans, for 1821, when after filtration, a liquid remained of that peculiar 

 tint of pale green which characterizes the solutions of nickel, and of con- 

 siderable intensity. 



The presence of this metal was ascertained on concentrating the solu- 

 tion by the usual tests, and its quantity concluded, viz. 0'86 grains, or 

 4'6I per cent, on the specimen analyzed. 



Thus it appears that the specimen brought home by Capt. Alexander 

 has equal claim to a meteoric origin with any of those masses of native 

 nickeliferous iron which have been found in different localities, and to 

 which that origin has, without other evidence, been attributed. 



All those specimens, however, have, so far as I know, been insulated 

 single masses. But what constitutes the peculiar and important feature 

 of this discovery of Capt. Alexander, is the fact stated by him of the oc- 

 currence of masses of this native iron in abundance, scattered over the 

 surface of a considerable tract of country. If a meteoric origin be at- 

 tributed to all these, a shower of iron must have fallen ; and as we can 

 imagine no cause for the explosion of a mass of iron, and can hardly con- 

 ceive a force capable of rending into fragments a cold block of this very 

 tenacious material, we must of necessity conclude it to have arrived in a 

 state of fusion, and been scattered around by the assistance of the air or 

 otherwise, in a melted, or at least softened state. — Lond. and Ed. Phil. 

 Magazine, Jan. 1839. 



41. Dr. Bowditch. — His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, late 

 president of the Royal Society, in his anniversary address delivered from 

 the chair, Nov. 30th, 1838, thus commemorates the character and death 

 of our distinguished countrymen. 



"Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch of Boston, in the State of Massachusetts in 

 America, was born at Salem, in the same State, in 1773 : he was removed 

 from school at the age of ten years to assist his father in his trade as a 

 cooper, and was indebted for all his subsequent acquisitions, including the 

 Latin and some modern languages, and a profound knowledge of mathe- 

 matics and astronomy, entirely to his own exertions, unaided by any in- 

 struction whatever. He became afterwards a clerk to a ship-chandler. 



