5'0 ANALYSES OF METEORIC STONES, 



It is somewhat remaskable, that I foiuid alunnine and 

 lime in this meteoric stone, since no mention has been made 

 of aluiiiine in particular in the analysis of meteoric Stones 

 hitherto pviblished. It is true Bartholdi, of Colmar, an- 

 nci^nced 0*17 of alumine in the stone of Ensisheim ; but 

 Vauquelin assures us, that he found this stone like ali 

 others. 

 Th:\tofEnsi- As I have a specimen of the stone of Ensisheim in my 

 iluinine!' ^" collection of meteorolites, I subjected a certain quantity to 



analysis, and found in it ]|- per cent of alumine. 

 Alianine in It is very easy however, to overlook alumine, when it is 



*"l,^;y'J,y^'j,'^''-^ contained in veiy small quantity in stones, as you justly 

 IfH kcd. observed on my analysis of the terre verte of Verona, Ac- 



Terre verte. cordingly on repeating this analysis I found, that, by -.boil- 

 ing the recently precipitated oxide of iron with a solution 

 of caustic potash, I obtained 1-75 of alumine: this there- 

 fore is a principle to be added to those of the earth of Ve- 

 rona, and its weight mus^t be deducted from that assigned 

 to the oxide of iron. 

 Ana1y<.es sel- To speak generally I am far from pretending, that my 

 analyses, even the most accurate, are perfectly just and 

 exact; it is only by a careful repetition of them, that we 

 can approach as near as possible to the truth. 

 Decomposition Among all the experiments of Ritter on Davy's decom- 

 of the alkalis, pogj^j^j^ ^,f t].g alkalis I found the phenomena exhibited by 

 tellurium most interesting. [See Journal, vol. XXIV, p. 

 Tellurium wil) 3]8.] This property of tellurium leads us to expect, that 



i)iobably de- ^ ,. , , , • • ^ . , , 



com pose water ^^ '^'"^y accomplish the decomposition ot water so that the 

 by attracting hid open shall enter into combination, and the oxigen be 

 separated in the form of gas. It is much to be wished, 

 that h's n.eial was more easy to be procured, that we 

 might pnrsu« these experiments; for at present we have 

 no way of obtaining it but from the foliated ore of Nag- 



All* line mt tals The products of soda and potash, which we obtained in the 

 <!nt oil uf tur* J^^oi'^^ory of the academy, in conjunction withMr. Simon 

 peniine, but and Mr. Ermaun, by employing the galvanic apparatus, have 

 ^ kept very well for three months under oil of turpentine, re- 



taining their metallic lustre, particularly the large pieces. 

 The oil of turpentine has acquired a transparent brown red co- 



, lour. 



