J. L. Smith— Carlon Gumpounds in Meteorites. 393 



The weight before 

 at of an irregular 

 dumb-bell, flattened on one side, and slightly nodular on the 

 surface. Its color is plumbago-black, except at small places 

 on the surface, where there is a little bronze-colored troilite. 

 Its texture is remarkably close and compact, and it is cut 

 readily by the saw except when the tool encounters particles of 

 enclosed troilite. Its structure and powder is not unlike that 

 of the close-textured graphite of Borrowdale in Cumberland, 

 England, and quite unlike the scaly graphite such as that from 

 Ceylon, or that found in certain cast irons. 



Examined from the circumference to the center this nodule 

 presents the following appearances : About one-fifth of the cir- 

 cumference of the section is made up of troilite with a thickness 

 of one millimeter. The remainder of the section has all the 

 aspect of graphite, except in a few spots. In the nodule there 

 is a small mass of troilite not unlike in form the entire nodule ; 



Again 



portion IS 

 npletely from the exterior portion by a thin belt of 

 e-half to three-quarters of a millimeter in thickness, 

 igain on other parts of the surface small particles of troilite 

 are to be seen. 



The specific gravity of this graphite is 2-26 ram., as deter- 

 mined on a piece in which no troilite was visible to tbe eye, 

 and after it was immersed in water and placed under the re- 

 ceiver of an air pump to abstract the air from its pores. 



Chemical character of the graphitic nodule. — When pulverized 

 and heated in a short glass tube from 100° to 150° C, water is 

 given ofif which is doubtless water absorbed from the air by the 

 graphite. If heated a little higher and then brought close to 

 the nose, a slight empyreumatic odor is apparent : if heated 

 still higher, there is a slight odor of sulphuretted hydrogen. If 

 heated in the open air the carbon is burnt with difl&culty, 

 showing its true graphitic nature. 



Treatment of the graphite, by ether. — Yery pure and concen- 

 trated ether was added to two grams of material in powder and 

 rubbed up in a porcelain mortar; then poured into a small 

 beaker ; a little more ether was added and the two allowed to 

 remain together for 12 or 18 hours, the vessel being covered to 

 prevent evaporation. The ether was then filtered off from the 

 graphite which was finally washed with a little ether. The 

 ether was allowed to evaporate slowly in the uncovered beaker 

 placed where the temperature was about 33^ C. After the ether 

 had evaporated, long colorless acicular crystals covered the sides 

 of the vessel, and some shorter ones were in the bottom. There 

 were also some rhomboidal crystals and rounded particles. The 



