Dr. Jackson on the Alabama Meteoric Iron. 145 



Art. XIV. — (1.) Remarks on the Alabama Meteoric Iron, with 

 a Chemical Analysis of the drops of Green Liquid which exude 

 from it; by Charles T. Jackson, M. D. (2.) Letter from Mr. 

 A. A. Hayes on the same subject, with remarks on the origin 

 of the Chlorine found in the Alabama Iron, and a description 

 of neiD methods employed in the Analysis of Meteoric Irons.* 



I. Dr. Jackson''s Remarks on the Alabama Meteoric Iron. 



In August, 1834, I made a chemical analysis of apiece of me- 

 teoric iron from Claiborne, Clarke County, Alabama, and publish- 

 ed the results of that analysis in the thirty fourth volume of this 

 Journal, in 1838. The discovery of chlorine, combined with 

 nickel and iron, then announced for the first time, was a new 

 fact in the science of meteorites, and was regarded as one of in- 

 terest and importance. The attention of chemists was called to 

 a re-examination of specimens, which are contained in the nu- 

 merous cabinets of Europe and this country, in the belief that 

 the presence of chlorine might have been overlooked in former 

 analyses. 



In 1839, Prof. C. U. Shepard announced to the British Asso- 

 ciation, that he had discovered chlorine in a specimen of meteoric 

 iron from Buncombe, N. C, and as I understand, stated at that 

 time, as he has done since in this Journal, that the presence of 

 that element in meteorites, was first discovered by me, but that 

 statement was accidentally omitted in printing the Reports of the 

 British Association. I was gratified on seeing an account of Prof. 

 Shepard's discovery, and regret that he has since been disposed 

 to cast a doubt over the celestial origin of the chlorine, consider- 

 ing the facts which he has published in the forty third volume 

 (p. 359) as in no way invalidating the opinion that chlorine was 

 an original ingredient of the meteorite. No one who views my 

 specimen can have any doubt on the subject, for chlorohydrates 

 of nickel and iron are copiously effused from the interior of the 

 mass, and from every point on the cut and polished surface, where 

 the specimen had been sawed asunder, insomuch that I am una- 

 ble, even in a close cabinet, to keep the specimen free from cor- 



* Read before the Boston Society of Natural History, Wednesday, Nov. 20,1844, 

 by Dr. Jackson. 

 Vol. xLviii, No. 1.— Oct.-Dec. 1844. 19 



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