360 On Chlorine in Meteoric Iron. 



inches in length and of about one hundred and fifty pounds 

 weight) was accidentally discovered buried in the mud, near the 

 end of Long wharf in this harbor. It was supposed, from its ex- 

 ternal aspect as well as the place in which it was found, that it 

 must have been in the situation mentioned, for a long time. On 

 fracturing it with a hammer, an internal structure was brought 

 to view, so peculiar as to lead many persons to suspect that it was 

 not cast-iron, notwithstanding its form and the two holes near 

 each end, which generally characterize kentledge iron. It was 

 taken to the hardware and iron store of Messrs. Sherman & 

 Atwater, where, as Mr. Sherman now informs me, it was view- 

 ed as a curiosity by great numbers of persons, many of whom 

 did not appear to have been satisfied that it was iron, until the 

 opinion of Mr. B. Silliman, Jr. had been obtained upon the 

 subject. In passing the store during the summer, my notice was 

 also called to the subject by the store-keeper, who presented me 

 with a fragment of the mass of at least fifteen pounds weight. 

 I viewed it with interest at the time, solely because it afforded 

 the marks of having suffered an apparent change of molecular 

 structure — the coarsely crystalline and foliated texture having, 

 as I supposed, replaced that of the granular which is common to 

 cast-iron. 



I detached a fragment of several ounces in weight from the 

 mass, and took it with me to Charleston, where it was placed in 

 my collection by the side of a specimen of meteoric iron from 

 Buncombe, N. C. (the latter sealed up under glass). I observed 

 in the winter, that the New Haven iron had begun to assume the 

 same deliquescent and efflorescing appearance as the undoubted 

 chlorine-meteoric iron : but I postponed the examination for chlo- 

 rine until my return here, where it might be conducted in a more 

 satisfactory manner. On recurring to the original mass, my sur- 

 prise was much increased at finding its surface in many places, 

 nearly covered with spherical, blebby shells, (some of which were 

 as large as peas,) exactly analogous to those which form on the 

 chloridized' meteoric iron. Two or three of the globules were 

 detached and thrown into warm, distilled water, the solution fil- 

 tered and treated with nitrate of silver, whereupon an abundant 

 precipitation of chloride of silver ensued. I next detached pieces 

 of the clean iron from parts of the mass more internal, and boiling 

 them in water, obtained a similar precipitate of chlorine, though 



