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ALUUIKE IN METEORIC STONES. 



V. 



Description of the Process I have employed to ascertain the 

 existence of Afumine in Meteoric Stones, by B. G. Sase, 

 Member of the French Institute, Founder and Director of 

 the First School of Mines*. 



Fusion of a JLvjlARGRAFF and Bayen proceeded to the analysis of 



stone with a . - s t ones ^y vitriolization, because they had found, that fusion 



kali alters the J ... 



nature of some through the medium of alkalis altered the nature of some 



of its P nncl " earth. This appeared to me unquestionable, since che- 

 pies. , ' 



mists the most justly celebrated, as Klaproth, Fo-urcroy, 



Vauquelin, &c, who have given analyses of the meteoric 



. . stones, named aerolites by Mercati, have not mentioned the 

 Aluminem . ' . ■ .-. . , „ , . 



meteoric alumine, winch 1 can aihrm exists in them: tor, having vi- 



stones, triolized some of the meteoric stones of Aigle and Salles, 



near Villefrauche in the Lyonese, I obtained alum from 



both, but in unequal proportions, since the aerolite of Aigle 



yielded me near a fourth, while that of Salles did not afford 



above an eighth. 



I powdered and sifted through a silk searce some of the 

 That of Salles * . . » „ ^ . , . . 



contained nul- meteoric stone or Salles, an eigntn part or winch was irreduci- 

 leable iron. ble to powder, because it contained portions of malleable 

 iron, attractableby the magnet. Thii, being fused with glass of 

 borax, produced ductile iron, that had the brilliancy of the 

 purest steel when passed through the flatting mill \ while 

 the malleable iron obtained from the aerolite does not assume 

 an equally brilliancy after being laminated. A portion of 

 this iron had coloured the glass of borax black, and render- 

 ed it attractable by the magnet. 

 Treated with 1° ▼itriolize the magnesia and alumine, which make part 

 sulphuric acid, of meteoric stones, I introduced into a retort eighteen no- 

 minal cwt. of the aerolite of Salles, powdered and sifted ; 

 poured in an equal quantity of concentrated vitriolic acid; 

 and proceeded to distil to dryness in a reverberatory fur- 

 nace. Sulphurous acid was at first evolved, accompanied 

 with yellow sulphur, which was found in the proportion of a 



* Journal Je Physique, vol. lxvi, p. 460. 



thirtieth 



