506 Dr. Walter FlujJd—On Meteorites. 



and examined. It was found by a negro in 1858 or 1859, who 

 brought it to Staunton, and endeavoured to sell it. He failed to do so, 

 and threw it away behind a blacksmith's shop, where it lay several 

 years until it was used with other loose matei'ial to build a stone 

 fence. By reason of its irregular shape and great weight it soon 

 fell out of the fence, and was next used by a dentist as an anvil, on 

 which to hammer metal plates, and for such base purposes as the 

 cracking of nuts ; then it was again built into a wall round the 

 curbing of a cistern. In 1877 it was removed to Eochester, N.Y., 

 and a fragment of it came into Mallet's possession. It weighs 152 

 pounds, is 45-7 cm. in length, and 29-2 cm. in breadth, and in shape 

 somewhat resembles that of a shoulder of mutton. A sketch of the 

 mass is given in Mallet's paper. The s]>ecific gravity of the iron is 

 7-688, and the metal, when etched, exhibits the Wiedmannstiittian 

 figures " clearly and beautifully." The composition of the iron was 

 found to be : — 



Iron ... 



Nickel 



Cobalt 



Copper 



Tin 



Pliospliorus 



Snlphur 



Chlorine 



Carbon 



Silicium (reckoned as silicic acid) 



91-439 

 7'559 

 0-608 

 0021 

 trace 

 0-068 

 0-018 

 trace 

 0-142 

 0-108 



99-963 

 There can be no doubt that the four specimens found in the same 

 neighbourhood represent different portions of the same meteoric fall. 



1861, June 28tli (June 16th, O.S.), 7 a.m. — Grosnaja (Grosnja), Banks 

 of the Terek, Caucasus, Russia.^ 



Sixteen years ago Abich, who was at the time in Tiflis, sent to 

 Gustav Rose, in Berlin, a short description of a large fall of meteor- 

 ites at Grosnaja on the morning of the above day. The greater 

 number appear to have fallen, into the river Terek ; one fell in the 

 great square in the interior of the (?Staniza) barrack, entered the 

 ground to the depth of If feet ; it pursued an oblique course through 

 the air, and was distinctly warm when dug out. The meteorite had 

 the form of a huge hailstone, and was covered with a black crust. 



Abich, who had taken up his residence in Vienna, placed the stone 

 in the hands of Professors Tschermak and Ludwig for examination, 

 and the results of their investigations, together with a detailed 

 report of the circumstances attending its descent, have been incorpo- 

 rated in the paper by Professor Tschermak, referred to in the note. 



It is stated in the report drawn up by General-Major Kundukof, 

 military commandant of the Tschetschensk district, that on the night 

 of the 15th-16th June (O.S.), a barely dark one, there was neither 

 thunder, wind, nor rain. On Friday, the 16th, the morning was 

 clear and bright ; light rain-clouds, which hov/ever brought no rain, 



^ G. Tschermak, Mineraloffische und petrographische Mittheilungen, 1878, 153. 



