On Chlorine in Meteoric Iron. 359 



it a slight jar that the powder arranged itself in directions coinci- 

 ding with the Widmanstattian figures, and that a portion of it 

 maintained its adhesion, even though the surface was held in an 

 inverted position. No other meteoric iron in my possession ex- 

 hibits a similar property. I have since ascertained by a solution 

 of the Texas iron, that it contains magnetic oxide of iron. 



On Chlorine in Meteoric Iron. 



The detection of chlorine in meteoric iron was a discovery of 

 Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston.* It was made upon a me- 

 teoric mass found at Claiborne, Ala. (See this Journal, Vol. 

 XXXIV, p. 333.) The mass examined weighed twenty eight oun- 

 ces, and so rich was it in chlorine, that Dr. J. considered it as an 

 original ingredient of the meteorite, and conjectured that it would 

 be found in other meteoric bodies, advancing at the same time 

 an ingenious hypothesis founded on its presence in them, for their 

 incandescence on entering our atmosphere. 



For a time, I was inclined to suspect that the mass examined 

 by Dr. J. had acquired its chlorine from the chemical trials it 

 might have undergone prior to its reaching his hands ; for in his 

 paper we are told, that it had been supposed to contain silver. 

 This conjecture of mine was put to rest however, on my analysis 

 of the meteoric iron of Buncombe, N. C, (see this Journal, Vol. 

 xxxvi, p. 81,) inasmuch as I met with the same element in that 

 mass, and more lately in that of Guildford (see this Journal, Vol. 

 XL, p. 369), in the same state. f 



The observations which I am about to detail however, have 

 greatly shaken my confidence in the extra-terrestrial origin of 

 chlorine in these masses. 



During the last summer, a mass of cast-iron kentledge of the 

 usual size and shape (i. e. a right square prism of about twenty 



* In a published report of the British Association for 1839, (Abstracts, «&c. p. 54,) 

 an abstractof a communication of mine on meteorites is given, with the omission of 

 Dr. jACKS0N's»-€laim to the discovery of this element. If the original papers from 

 which the Transactions are made up are preserved by that body, it will appear that 

 I was by no means guilty of overlooking the merits of Dr. J. in this particular. 



t The external aspect of several specimens of meteoric iron preserved in the 

 fine collection of the British Museum, led me to conjecture that they also includ- 

 ed chlorine ; while I have mentioned in the foregoing account of the Tennessee 

 iron, that Dr. Troost has found it in that remarkable mass. 



