Dr. Walter Flight— History of Meteorites. 29 



plates are not schreibersite, which is very brittle, but an alloy free 

 from phosphorus, and containing about one-third its weight of 

 nickel. The three masses gave on analysis the following results : 





No. 1. 



No. 2. 



No. 3. 



Iron 



88706 



88-365 



89-007 



Nickel 



10-163 



10-242 



9-964 



Cobalt 



0-396 



0-428 



0-387 



Copper 



0-003 



0-004 



0-003 



Tin 



0-002 



0-002 



0-003 



Manganese . . . 



trace. 



— 



trace. 



Carbon 



172 



0-185 



0-122 



Phosphorus ... 



0-341 



0-362 



0-375 



Sulphur 



,.. 0-019 



0-008 



0-026 



Silica 



0-067 



0-061 



0056 



Chlorine 



0-003 



0-002 



0-004 



99-872 99-659 99-947 



The chlorine is not of meteoric origin ; a solid piece of No. 1 , 

 weighing 50 grammes, and quite free from flaws or fissures, con- 

 tained no chlorine whatever. Some portion of the siliceous residue 

 from the action of the acid probably consists of silicide of iron; 

 when magnified 500 diameters, and examined by polarized light, it 

 is found to consist of an amorphous powder, and rounded transparent 

 grains of 0-0025 to 0-0100 mm. diameter, and with well-marked 

 doubly refracting characters. 1 The three masses are, beyond ques- 

 tion, portions of a single fall. 



Pieces of this iron have been forged. One, which was hammered 

 cold, could be beaten into any desired shape ; a second, which had 

 been exposed to a red heat in vacuo, could only be forged in the cold 

 with much difficulty ; while a third piece that had been subjected 

 to a white heat could not be forged at all, and crumbled under the 

 hammer when reheated. Mallet is of opinion that the brittleness 

 arose from the melting out of the phosphide, " leaving the iron 

 porous." As the amount of phosphorus present was but small, and 

 did not exceed one per cent., it may have rendered some portion of 

 the iron. " cold short." 



The gases occluded by this iron were collected by Mallet and 

 analyzed. The material consisted of some turnings and a solid piece 

 of the metal. The cutting apparatus employed to reduce them to 

 the requisite size was heated to a red heat, and quenched in water, 

 to remove all traces of oily matter. Graham extracted from the 

 Lenarto iron 2-85 times its volume of gas ; Mallet obtained 3*17 

 volumes from his specimen. The latter was heated during four- 

 teen and a half hours at a red heat, and then to an incipient white 

 heat. Daring the first two and a half hours 52 per cent. (I.) of the 

 entire gas was removed ; in the next 2 hours 20 minutes, 24 per cent. ; 

 (II.), and in the remaining nine and a half hours, 24 per cent. (III.). 

 Below are given for comparison the composition of these three 



1 The residue left on treating the Tuczon iron with acid appears to have borne a 

 great resemblance to this substance. Compare with the description given in Buchner's 

 Meteoriten, p. 183. 



