Dr. Walter Flight — History of Meteorites. 79 



deep cavity on one part of the surface. The former is covered with 

 ridges, running obliquely across its side, and in most cases parallel 

 to each other. The weight of this block of metal is 21 lbs., and the 

 specific gravity 7-925. When cut, it takes a fine polish, and exhibits 

 strong metallic lustre and a steel-grey colour. Four analyses have 

 been made, three by A. Raimondi, of Lima, and one by Eammelsberg, 

 that last quoted, with the following results : 





i. 



ii. 



in. 



IY. 



Iron 



, 81-42 .. 



,. 8561 .. 



. 87-59 .. 



. 81-66 



Nickel , 



. 18-51 .. 



.. 14-37 ., 



.. 12-38 ., 



.. 15-49 



Cobalt 



, . 



■ • . 



■ c 



.. 0-19 



Insoluble portion .., 



. 



.. 



,. 



,. 2-66 



99-93 99-98 99-97 lOO'OO 



The insoluble constituents Avere : iron 2*17 ; nickel 0-37 ; phos- 

 phorus 0-05 ; and a residue, that withstood the action of hydro- 

 chloric acid, 0-07. 



The attention of the reader will be taken by the unusually large 

 per-centage of nickel present in this meteorite, it being as high as, or 

 higher than, that of the aerolite of Shingle Springs (see page 28). We 

 saw that the American iron, and the one from the Cape of Good Hope, 

 found at the end of last century, resembled each other not only in the 

 quantity of nickel in the alloy, but in the fact that neither of them 

 developed figures when etched. The Peruvian iron forms a third 

 example of this class, for it also shows no Widmannstattian figures : 

 by treatment with acid it takes a pale grey colour, and is dull. In 

 lieu, however, eight fine straight parallel stripes, singularly unlike 

 any markings usually observed, are seen to traverse the etched sur- 

 face, nearly directly across the greatest length of the block. Four 

 of these crossing near the middle of the surface appear to be 

 equidistant from each other, like lines on ruled paper; the remaining 

 four lie in pairs, one on the right, the other to the left of the group 

 of four, the whole number, as stated, being in parallel position. 

 The spaces between the members of the first pair and of the other 

 pair respectively exhibit for some distance the same lighter surface 

 that gives prominence to the stripes themselves. These stripes do 

 not appear to be in any way connected with the ridges on the outer 

 surface, and though evidently brighter than the face generally when 

 seen in certain directions, are duller than it when viewed in others. 

 Very similar stripes were noticed on the Cape iron 1 already men- 

 tioned ; in fact, till Rose made his observations, it was the only 

 iron which was known to exhibit such phenomena. As to their 

 cause, the author did not advance any explanation beyond attributing 

 them to the position of the small particles composing the stripe. 

 They present some of the characteristics of the plates of beam-iron 

 observed in the Atacama and many other irons. 



This iron apparently contains no sulphur, and the sections of little 

 inclosed crystals, such as those met with in the Cape iron, which 



1 G. Rose. Ans Ahhandl. Berl. Akad. Wiss., 1863-70. — E. H. von Baumhauer. 

 Archiv. Neerland. des Sciences Exactes et Natur., ii. 377. 



