152 Mr. A. A. Hayes on the Alabama Meteoric Iron. 



slips with the oxide produced, and even the box had become sat- 

 urated with the fluid. After the surfaces had been rendered per- 

 fectly bright by filing, and clean by copious washings, the slip 

 was supported in a glass vessel containing a very dilute solution 

 of red prussiate of potash. Thejiuid did not exhibit any change 

 of color ; but after the lapse of three hours, little dots of a blue 

 color adhered to different parts of the bright surfaces. The dots 

 soon became the bases of minute downy filaments, which, ex- 

 ternally of a blue color, rapidly elongated and assumed the ap- 

 pearance of a most delicate blue moss. Twenty four hours after 

 immersion, the slip was completely enveloped in long interwoven 

 tufts of filaments, which spread in all directions through the 

 transparent yellow fluid, forming an object of rare beauty. These 

 filaments were tubular — the interior of the tubes presenting a 

 greenish gray color, while the exterior varied in shades from 

 dark to pale blue; clearly indicating that the chloride of nickel 

 forms a large part of the whole soluble Tuatter. Substituting 

 solutions of gall-nut, prussiate of potash, and sulphydrate of am- 

 monia, for the red prussiate, the existence of the mixed chlorides 

 was finely exhibited, but without the beautiful appearances at- 

 tending the action of the red prussiate solution. The plate, re- 

 moved from the solutions and cleaned, was colored only at the 

 cavities irregularly disposed, from which soluble matter had been 

 abstracted. These cavities were precisely such as granular bodies 

 would impress on a surface ; no appearance of flaws or cracks was 

 presented. 



The masses of this meteorite possess within themselves the ele- 

 ments of the destruction of their metallic character, when freely 

 exposed in the atmosphere of our earth ; such an effect would 

 rapidly follow the exposure of small pieces, but in larger masses 

 the decomposition by oxidation of chloride of iron arrests the 

 change. Each little conduit of hydrochlorate becomes closed, 

 and a thick investing coating encases the bright metal within. 

 In consequence of this protection by partial destruction, you have 

 been able to make known the composition of this remarkable 

 substance. Had the deliquescent bodies as they were formed 

 acted on the metallic parts surrounding them, and been washed 

 away by dews and rains, a mass would have been left not differ- 

 ent from our well known iron ores. Considered from its relation 

 to the elements of water as an oxidizing agent, chlorine has the 



