Dr. Walter Flight — History of Meteorites. 605 



mass ; and of the ]atter about 26 per cent, is soluble in acid. An 

 analysis of a portion of the stone gave the following- results : 



Oxygen. 



Silicic acid 51-33 ... 26-37 



Alumina 



Chromium oxide 



Iron protoxide 



Magnesia 



Lime 7-03 ... 2-06 1- 12-28 



Potash 0-22 ... 0-03 



Soda 0-45 ... 0-11. 



Sulphur 0-23 



8 05 ... 3-75 



0-42 



13-70 ... 304^1 



17-59 ... 7-04 | 



99-02 



As the greater portion of the lime and but little of the magnesia 

 and iron protoxide were found in the portion soluble in acid, it 

 appears probable that this meteorite will be found after the more 

 detailed investigation, which Brush contemplates undertaking, to 

 consist to a great extent of anorthite, olivine and bronzite. He is 

 of opinion that by sacrificing more material it will be possible to 

 mechanically separate the constituent minerals under a lens. In 

 general physical characters it closely resembles the meteorite of 

 Petersburg, Lincoln Co., Tennessee (1855, August 5th). 1 



Found 1868.— Goalpara, Assam, India. [Lat. 26° 10' N.; 

 Long. 90° 40' E.] 2 



This meteorite, the date of the fall of which is not known, was 

 first described by von Haidinger, who directed attention to the 

 peculiarities of its form and surface as indicating with great clear- " 

 ness the orientation of the stone in respect to the path of flight 

 through the atmosphere; he remarked among its mineralogical 

 characters differences from those observed in all other meteorites, 

 and described it as an olivinous rock, of coarse grain, and of a very 

 dark grey hue. Von Haidinger's preliminary notice is illustrated 

 with two beautiful plates showing the remarkable form of the stone. 



Tschermak, who has made a very complete investigation of this 

 meteorite, describes the exterior as having a deep greyish-brown 

 colour ; the fused crust is extremely thin and hard, and is readily 

 removed in flakes. The interior has a porphyritic structure ; the 

 deep grey matrix enclosing light-coloured yellow grains, which 

 have a nearly uniform breadth of 1 mm. These included particles 

 are found on closer inspection to be of two kinds ; the one exhibit- 

 ing a very distinct cleavage, the other none. The first mineral is 

 rhombic, has cleavage-planes forming an angle of 92°, is unacted 

 upon by acid, and is identified with enstatite. The second species 

 is also infusible, gelatinises with acid, and is found to be olivine. 



The very finely granular matrix, when viewed under a high 

 power, is seen to consist partly of small transparent particles which 



1 J. L. Smith. Amer. Jour. Sc. 1861, xxi. 264. 



2 "W. von Haidinger. Sitzber. Ah. Wiss. Wien, 1869, lix. 224 and 665.— G-. 

 Tschermak. Sitzber. Ak. Wiss. Wien, 1870, lxii. 855. Jahrbueh fur Mineralogie, 

 1871,412. 



UECADE II. — YOL. II. NO. XII. 39 



