Br. Walter Flight — History of Meteorites. 607 



carbonaceous matter forming 0-85 per cent, of the stone, and consist- 

 ing of 0-72 carbon and 0-13 hydrogen, constitutes by far the most 

 striking feature of this meteorite. While the carbonaceous meteorites 

 which fell at Kaba, Alais, etc., have a very loose texture, the G-oal- 

 para stone exhibits great toughness. 



A list of meteorites containing carbon has been given on page 19 ; 

 to that must be added the names of those which fell at Eenazzo 

 (1824, January 15th), Mezo-Madaraz (1852, Sept. 4th), Ornans 

 (1868, July 11th), and Zsadany (1875, March 31st). 



[1868]. — Auburn, Macon Co., Alabama. 1 



In October, 1868, Prof. Darby, of the East Alabama College, drew 

 up a report on a mass of meteoric iron which had been ploughed up 

 " many years since," in the Daniel plantation near Auburn. It was 

 a nearly round mass, weighing about 8 lbs. ; it is traversed with 

 such deep cracks and open veins that it would not be difficult to 

 break it in pieces ; on one side a " globule " of troilite, half an inch 

 in diameter, was noticed. When etched the iron exhibits a mesh- 

 work of exceedingly thin lines, the areas within the lines being 

 lustrous when viewed in a certain direction ; the former appearance 

 is ascribed to thin plates of schreibersite, the latter to sections of 

 needles of rhabdite. 



The metal has a specific gravity of 7-05, and the composition : 



Iron = 94-580; Nickel = 3-015; Phosphorus = 0-129; Insoluble portion = 0-523. 



Total = 98-247. 

 Besides the above ingredients the presence of undetermined 

 quantities of chromium, calcium, magnesium, and silicium (?) was 

 recognised. Shepard states that " neither cobalt, tin, nor copper was 

 detected in this iron." Commenting on this statement and the ob- 

 servations of other investigators, where the fact of the presence of 

 cobalt in meteoric iron has not been actually recorded, Dr. L. 

 Smith says: 2 "I cannot but suggest the importance of making a 

 most critical examination of these irons before pronouncing this 

 fact ; for in every analysis that I have made of meteoric irons (over 

 one hundred different specimens) with this in view, cobalt has been 

 invariably found, along with a minute quantity of copper." 



[N.D.] — Collina di Brianza, near Villa, Milan. 3 



It is stated by Chladni 4 that this mass of metal was found about 

 40 to 50 years earlier (which would be about 1769-79) while digging 

 the foundations of a house, and that it was placed in the Convent of 

 S. Alessandro. Guidotti, Klaproth, and Gehlen, to whom fragments 

 were sent for analysis, found neither nickel, chromium, phosphorus, nor 

 carbon in it, and considered it to be very pure iron ; so malleable was 

 it, in fact, that Chladni had a tuning-fork forged from it. Specimens 



1 C. U. Shepard. Amer.Jour. Sc, 1869, xlvii. 230. — L. Smith. Amer. Jour. Sc, 

 1870, xlix. 331. 



2 J. L. Smith. Mineralogy and Chemistry, 352. 



3 K. Haushofer. Jour. Prakt. Chem., 1869, cvii. 328. 



4 E. F. F. Chladni. Ueber Feuer-Meteore. Vienna : 1819. Page 349. 



