^4n Accowif of a Meteor. 151 



and coniititutes by far the greater part of the stone. Af- 

 ter being wet and exposed to the an% the stone becomes 

 covered with numerous reddish spots, which do not ap- 

 pear in a fresh fracture, and arise manifestly from the 

 rusting of the iron. 



5. There are a few instances of matter dispersed ir- 

 regularly through the stone, which are considered as in- 

 termediate between pyrites and malleable iron. They 

 are sometimes in masses apparently crystalline, but us- 

 ually irregular. They are black, and commonly destitute 

 of splendor, but exposed by a recent fracture, they ap- 

 pear like a glossy superficial coating. They are some- 

 times attractable by the magnet, and sometimes not. 



CHEMICAL EXAMINATION of the Stones which 



fell at Weston, (Connecticut^) Dec, 14, 1807. By 



B.SiLLiMAM, Professor of Chemistry in Yale College. 



THE public are already in possession of ample de- 

 tails concerning the fall of these bodies, and the pheno- 

 mena which preceded the event. — I have made an at- 

 tempt to ascertain their nature, by a series of experi- 

 ments, the result of which is now communicated to the 

 public. It will be necessary to make some observations, 

 and to detail some experiments, upon each of the con- 

 stituent parts of the stone. 



I. Of the stone at large. 



II. Of the pyrites. 



III. Of the malleable iron. 



IV. Of the black irregular masses. 



V. Of the crust. 



VI. Of the globular bodies. 



I. Of the stone at large, 



\. — 100 grains of the stone, taken without any parti-, 

 cular reference to the various bodies, and, containing 

 promiscuously, portions of all of them, were pulverized 

 in a porphyry mortar. The malleable iron resisted the 

 pestle, so that the mass could be reduced only to a coarse 

 powder. It was then digested for 1 \ hours, with a mo- 



