254 Composition of the Missouri Meteorite. 



I detect the Edwardsite in a solitary crystal at the original lo- 

 cality of Sillimanite, in the town of Chester, upon the Connecti- 

 cut river ; but it does not appear probable that this will prove so 

 abundant a source of the mineral as the deposit at Norwich. 



Analysis of Meteoric Stone, which fell near Little Piney, Mis- 

 souri, Feb. 13, 1839. 



This specimen was obtained by Mr. Forbest Shepherd, and 

 described by Mr. E. C. Herrick, in this Journal, Vol. xxxvii, p. 

 385. Mr. Shepherd kindly placed the mass at my disposal, 

 which enables me to extend the account already published by the 

 following notice. 



On first inspection, the stone appears rather compact and close 

 grained ; it is nevertheless composed for about one half of small 

 imperfectly defined globules of the mineral which has been call- 

 ed meteoric oUvine. In color, they are light gray, inclining to 

 pearl-gray, and when freshly broken across, show tints of yellow 

 and green. The remaining stony ingredient is white and semi- 

 decomposed, resembling the feldspathic mineral in certain tra- 

 chytic lavas. 



Through the w^hole is sprinkled meteoric iron in little shining 

 points, which are often invested with a coating of magnetic iron 

 pyrites. By the aid of a glass, a few little black points were dis- 

 covered of a mineral which appeared to be chrome-iron ore. 



Notwithstanding the apparent firmness of the mass, arising out 

 of its close-grained structure, it is still possessed of but liitle co- 

 hesion, since a slight strain of the fingers is sufficient to produce 

 a fracture, even in a rounded shaped fragment of the stone. 

 When broken up in this manner, however, the pieces are not 

 prone to separate still farther, so as easily to give rise to a powder. 



The meteoric iron is not tarnished by exposure to the air. It 

 was examined for chlorine, without affording any traces of this 

 element. The most striking peculiarity found in this stone, was 

 the small proportion of nickel. At first I failed to detect it alto- 

 gether, but on a repetition of the search with eight grains of the 

 alloy, whose nitro-hydrochloric solution in a concentrated form 

 was decomposed by ammonia in excess, I noticed an exceedingly 

 faint blue tinge in the fluid. The, chromium, however, is more 

 abundant than usual, amounting to above 3 p. c. I did not search 

 for tin or manganese. 



