DR. W. FLIGHT, GREENLAND METEORITES. 455 



It will be seen that specimen III. is not less rich in carbon 

 than I., and that specimen II. also contains a considerable 

 quantity. Specimen I. is distinguished from II. by a large pro- 

 portion of combined iron. By treatment with alcohol, calcium- 

 chloride was extracted and determined in I. ; with cold distilled 

 water, the soluble salts were removed from 11. and III. I. con- 

 tains more lime-sulphate and less chloride than II. and III. 



These meteoric masses are distinguished by the amount of car- 

 bon, free and combined, which they contain ; by the presence of 

 a large proportion of iron in combination with oxygen, but in 

 what state of oxidation is not clearly ascertained; and by the 

 occurrence of soluble chlorides and sulphates, especially calcium- 

 sulphate, throughout their structure. No salt of potassium has 

 been detected in them, nor, which is very remarkable, has sodium- 

 chloride been found, although carefully sou^t for. The intimate 

 distribution of these salts through the Ovifak iron is certainly an 

 indication that they must be numbered among the original con- 

 stituents of these meteorites. 



Daubree noticed that specimen II. showed a marked tendency 

 to absorb water and to rust away ; a few days sufficed to make 

 this apparent. The local nature of the oxidation he attributes to 

 the irregular distribution of the deliquescent salts. Among these 

 compounds, instead of iron-chloride, to the action of which the 

 decay of meteoric iron has usually been ascribed, calcium-chloride 

 appears to play the most prominent part. In support of this view 

 it may be remarked that No. II. iron, the one most liable to change, 

 is that containing the greatest proportion of this salt, the amount 

 being six times that met with in No. I. iron. 



Calcium- and magnesium-sulphates were noticed by Daubree to 

 form constituents of the Orgueil Stone, and the latter salt is also 

 present in the aerolites of Kaba and Alais. All these are carbon- 

 aceous meteorites. May the calcium-sulphate of these irons, as 

 well as that of the above-mentioned aerolite, be a product of the 

 oxidation of a calcium (magnesium) sulphide such as occurs in the 

 meteorite of Busti, which stone also contains, among other con- 

 stituents, augite and metallic iron ? 



The greater stability which these masses exhibited so long as 

 they were in polar latitudes is no doubt due to the reduced tension 

 of aqueous vapour ; had they fallen in regions further south and 

 been exposed to a milder climate, they would without doubt have 

 long since fallen to powder. 



In his second paper Wohler points out the probability of the 

 No. II. iron, which Daubree examined, being of the same kiud as 

 that which he himself analysed. He remarks that, although 

 Daubree found this variety of the metal to show a tendency to 

 oxidise even in a few days, his specimen had remained bright and 

 unchanged after it had been a year in his collection. 



NauckhofF, whose exhaustive examination of the rocks associated 

 with the Ovifak irons we shall immediately turn to consider, 

 analysed the spangles and spherules which can be removed by a 

 magnet from the rock that occurs in rounded masses in the basalt 

 ridge, and of which the composition is given in the table of his 



