46 A. W. Wright— Gases from the Meteorite of Feb. 12, 1875. 
ture, however, being kept below that of redness. About three 
cubic centimeters of gas were given off, which was found to 
consist of CO,, 42°27; CO, 511; H, 48:06; N. 4:56. The tube 
with its contents oe now ‘brought to a low red heat, which was 
maintained for half an hour or so, the effect being to a 
nearly the same sae of gas as before, containing CO,, 35°82 
CO, 0°49; H, 58°51; N, 518. Finally it was brought _ a fall 
red heat, which caused the evolution = much more gas, yield- 
ing, on analysis, CO,, 5:56: CO, 0°00: H, 8753; he 
whole amount of gas given off was about two and one half 
times the volume of the solid portion of the meteorite employed, 
but this was not the whole, for the heat was discontinued 
before its evolution had entirely ceased. If referred to the iron 
alone, it would be about twenty times its volume. 
The following table gives a comparative view of the relative 
proportions of the gases obtained at eee temperatures, the 
nitrogen being determined as a resi 
© ° low low At full 
At 100". At 250". an heat. en heat. heat. 
co, 95°46 92°32 42907 35°82 
co” 0°00? 1°82 5°11 0°49 0°00 
H 4°54 5°86 48-06 58°51 87°53 
N 0°00 9°00 4°56 5°18 6°91 
100°00 100°00 100°00 100°00 100° ge 
It will readily be seen, on revi iewing the above results, that 
they show a marked distinction between the iron and the stony 
meteorites, as to the gases which they contain. For, while hydro- 
gen is the principal gas of the irons, in the arto specimen 
amounting to 85°68 per cent,* in those of the stony kind, if 
the one examined may represent the class, the characteristic 
is carbon di-oxide, and this, with a small proportion of car- 
os oxide, makes up more than nine-tenths of the gas given 
off at the temperature of boiling water, and about half of that 
evolved at a low red heat. It is probable that a portion of the 
carbon di-oxide is merely condensed upon the finer particles of 
the iron, while the hydrogen and carbonic oxide are absorbed 
* Graham, Proc. Royal Soc., xv, 502. 
