ADDENDUM. 289 



ral crystallization. It lias polar magnetism, the jjoles being near the two extremities of the 

 mass, an interesting peculiarity which I do not remember as belonging to any other meteoric 

 iron. 



I may remark, further, that the diameter of the cavities filled with olivine is rarely so much 

 as six lines, or less than two lines. One specimen appeared to be composed of two pieces which 

 had fallen separately in a state of fusion, and on touching at a point they had become imited. 

 I also noticed specimens whose exteriors seemed to have been rubbed down as is observed on the 

 outsides of numerous minerals taken from within the earth, and principally from metallic veins, 

 a phenomenon only explicable on the supposition of a friction or sliding over one another 

 during their motion. May we attribute the appearancb which the surface of some of these 

 meteoric masses have, to a like origin ? 



It is clearly shown, in what has been said, that only a meteoric origin can be supposed for the 

 iron of Atacama: it must have fallen from the atmosjihere as did that of Aram and Braunan. 

 The fragments are so delicate, so crisped, and have extremities so fine and sharp, that any 

 hypothesis that they were transferred from another locality on the globe is inadmissible ; we 

 must admit that they were found on the spot precisely as we see them. Now, they lie upon 

 the surface ; they have the same chemical and physical characteristics as other meteoric iron : 

 how, then, could we think them to have had other origin ? 



I think we may conjecture, with a reasonable probability, the direction from which came the 

 meteor furnishing these iron fragments. Eemembering that the first samples are found ten 

 minutes before reaching their principal locality and in a N. N. E. direction, and that almost all 

 the specimens yet found lie on the slope facing to the north, none on that falling southward, 

 we must almost necessarily believe that the great mass came from the IST. N. E., lost some par- 

 ticles on its path, and burst in the place already described, scattering the small pieces as sparks 

 on the slope, whilst the larger fragments either fell or rolled to the bottom of the valley. 



37* 



