238 Canadian Record of Science. 



kindred stones, especially the discussions of the Greenland 

 native irons and the rocks in which they' are imbedded, are 

 leading mineralogists, if I do not mistake, to modify their 

 views. Great heat at the first consolidation of the meteoric 

 matter is not considered so essential. In a late paper, Mr. 

 Daubre'e says : — " It is extremely remarkable that in spite 

 of their great tendency to a sharply defined [nette~\ crystal- 

 lization, the silicate combinations which make up the 

 meteorites are there only in the condition of very small 

 crystals all jumbled together as if they had not passed 

 through fusion. If we may look for something analogous 

 about us, we should say that instead of calling to mind the 

 long needles of ice which liquid water forms as it freezes, 

 the fine grained texture of meteorites resembles rather that 

 of hoar frost and that of snow, which is due, as is known, to 

 the immediate passage of the atmospheric vapor of water 

 into the solid state." 



So Dr. Eeusch, from the examination of the Scandinavian 

 meteorites, concludes that " there is no need to assume 

 volcanic and other processes taking place upon a large 

 heavenly body formerly existing but since gone to pieces." 



The meteorites resemble the lavas and slags on the earth. 

 These lavas and slags are formed in the absence of water, 

 and with a limited supply of oxygen, and heat is present 

 in the process. But is heat necessary for the making of the 

 meteorites ? Some crystallizations do take place in the cold > 

 some are direct changes from gaseous to solid forms. We 

 cannot in the laboratory reproduce all the conditions of 

 crystallization in the cold of space. We cannot easily 

 determine whether the mere absence of oxygen will not 

 account fully for the slag-like character of the meteoric 

 minerals. 



Wherever crystallization can take place at all, if there 

 are present silicon and magnesium and iron and nickel with 

 a limited supply of oxygen, there silicates ought to be 

 expected in abundance, and the iron and nickel in their 

 metallic form. Except for the heat, the process should be 

 analogous to that of the reduction of iron in the Bessemer 

 cupola, where the limited supply of oxygen combines with 



