Miscellanies. 401 



value, as it will only cool it, and make it more readily deposit its sooty 

 particles. The impure gas of the coal, on the contrary, may be infla- 

 med by a due admixture of air. In conclusion, Mr. Dircks stated a gen- 

 eral principle, that on the large scale of the furnace, air should be ap- 

 plied to the impure gaseous products of the fuel by a source indepen- 

 dent of that supplying air by the ash-pit to the solid fuel. 



It was recommended by the General Committee, that the future title 

 of this Section be " Chemistry and Mineralogy, with their application to 

 Agriculture and the Arts." 



[The remainder of our Abstract we are reluctantly compelled to de- 

 fer until the July No.] 



MISCELLANIES. 



1. Analysis of Meteoric Iron from Burlington, Otsego Co., N. Y. — 

 Dr. L. C. Beck, in his report on the mineralogical survey of New York, 

 p. 383, makes mention of a mass of malleable iron, said to be native, 

 which he saw in the cabinet of the Albany Institute. It does not ap- 

 pear that any chemical examination was made of the mass. 



Last November, Mr. E. C. Herrick, being in Geneva, N. Y., received 

 from the hands of Prof. James Hadley of that place, a mass of metallic 

 iron, which Prof. H. assured him was a portion of the same specimen 

 mentioned by Dr. Beck in his Report above quoted, and that both be- 

 longed to a larger mass, which when found was supposed to weigh from 

 one hundred to two hundred pounds avoirdupois. Mr. Herrick also 

 learned, that Dr. Eli Pierce of Athens, N. Y. was the gentleman who 

 originally communicated the specimens and information to Dr. Hadley. 



On Mr. Herrick's return to this place, the mass was placed in my 

 hands for examination. Its strong resemblance to the iron found in North 

 Carolina, by Prof. Olmsted, (this Journal, Vol. xvn, p. 140,) and exam- 

 ined subsequently by Prof. Shepard, (Vol. xl, p. 369,) immediately 

 struck me ; it was divided by broad lamina?, crossing each other at an- 

 gles of 60° and 120°, cutting up the surfaces into triangular and rhom- 

 bohedral figures. It broke with a hackly fracture and only with the 

 greatest difficulty, on the thinnest edges. 



Two deep and broad sutures marked its two most regular and oppo- 

 site faces, made by the wedge or chisel by which the blacksmith (into 

 whose hands the larger mass unfortunately came) severed it from the 

 adjoining portion. It bore the marks of having been intensely heated 

 in the smith's forge, and numerous microscopic crystals, of a black 

 color and brilliant lustre, covered some parts of its surface. They 



Vol. xlvi, No. 2.— Jan.-March, 1844. 51 



