A. W. Wright—Gases from the Meteorite of Feb. 12,1875. 45 
which was made with a quantity of the iron extracted from the 
meteoric mass, showed that the gaseous contents differed in a 
marked degree from those obtained from iron meteorites hith- 
erto examined, inasmuch as they contained a very large per- 
centage of carbon di-oxide, with a smaller proportion of car- 
nic oxide, and a large residue of hydrogen, the two oxides 
of carbon making about one half of the gaseous mixture. The 
percentages obtained in the preliminary trial were, CO,, 35; 
, 14; or 49 per cent of earbon compounds, the hydrogen not 
having been estimated. This was merely a rude approxima- 
tion, and the amount of CO is overstated, at the expense of the 
CO,. These results were obtained with the particles of iron 
separated from the powdered stone with a magnet. The residue, 
however, contained a considerable amount of iron in particles 
too small to enable them to lift the bits of the stony matrix in 
which they were enclosed. As this was found to introduce 
irregularities in the determinations, the portions of meteorite 
employed in the experiments to be described were finely pul- 
verized in a diamond mortar, and the whole immediately placed 
in the glass tube to be attached to the Sprengel pump, the iron 
not being separated from the rest. Larger volumes of the 
ases were extracted than in the first trial, and the relative pro- 
portions of the different constituents carefully determined by 
analysis. 
Powder formed from about four cubic centimeters of the 
solid meteorite was placed in the tube upon the pump, and the 
air very thoroughly exhausted. It was soon found that the 
relative amounts of the different constituents driven off by 
heating the tube varied with the temperature, and the experi- 
ments were so conducted that the portions separated at different 
temperatures could be examined separately. 
On applying the heat of the hand to the tube for a short time, 
a small amount of gas was liberated, too small for anything more 
than a rude qualitative test as to its composition, which showed 
- This separated a still greater quantity of the gases, in 
. . = Co. 
