344 Meteoric Iron from Tennessee and Alabama. 
state of my health at that time did not permit me to be longer 
engaged in chemical investigations, and therefore I did not ascer- 
tain the purity of the nickel. It was satisfactory to me that it 
did contain a notable quantity of nickel, and that hereby its me- 
teoric origin was put beyond doubt. But even if the nickel had not 
established its meteoric origin, what could it be? I mentioned 
above, that in its granular structure it did resemble more or less 
some white cast iron, but its softness and malleability show that 
it cannot be that. Cast iron when it is white, is always hard 
and breaks under the hammer. This is not the case with our 
iron; I can cut small chips of it with a knife. I doubt whether 
this can be done from white cast iron! Its fracture distinguishes 
it also from wrought iron. 
Meteoric Iron from Walker County, Ala. 
As already mentioned, I owe the Walker County, Alabama 
meteoric iron to the politeness of my friend, I. F. Sowell, M. D., 
of Athens, Alabama, who purchased it for me from its discoverer, 
Mr. Wiley Speaks, living in Morgan County, Alabama. He 
found it in the autumn of 1832 in the northeast corner of Walker 
County, while on a deer-hunting excursion. He had stopped 
to rest upon a little spur of mountain, when he observed the mass 
with its large end deeply buried in the ground, leaving only a 
small portion of the small end protruding. Believing it to be 
some precious metal, he took especial pains to have it safely and 
secretly conveyed to his house, some 15 miles off, where it re- 
mained till February, 1843, when it came into the possession of 
Dr. Sowell, and shortly after I received it in Nashville. 
The original weight was about 165 pounds; this weight was 
somewhat diminished when it came into my possession, some 
small pieces having been chiseled off. This must of course be 
expected, as these masses fall mostly into the hands of ignorant 
persons, who are generally on the look-out for some of the pre- 
cious metals, (as silver and gold are usually called,) and conse- 
quently every thing that is uncommon is very often considered as 
such. It is therefore necessary, in order to convince themselves 
of its true nature, that some small parts of it should be sent to a 
silversmith, 
