﻿290 Huntington — Crystalline Structure of Iron Meteorites. 



hy the heav}' line in the figure, following the octahedral cleav- 

 age, nearly separates the mass into two portions. 



So far, the observations on octahedral irons do not differ 

 materially from what has been described in the papers already 

 referred to. The Widmanstattian figures are manifestly the 

 evidence of a very perfect crystallization, chiefly in the octa- 

 hedral form ; and these octahedral plates frequently may be 

 readily separated, the successive depositions of the plates pro- 

 ducing a more or less jointed structure, similar to that well 

 known in cap-quartz. But this jointing must be clearly dis- 

 tinguished from the octahedral cleavage or fracture above re- 

 ferred to, which, as already stated, often passes directly through 

 the plates. Moreover, the perfection of the octahedral cleavage 

 does not depend upon the size and character of the Widman- 

 stattian plates, many of the irons which show the best figures 

 affording no evidence of octahedral cleavage, while some of 

 the most compact break readily into octahedrons. 



Butler, Bates County. 



An example of the latter is shown in fig. 4 from the Butler 

 (Bates Co.) iron, where the larger surface, drawn of its original 

 size, shows that the Widmanstattian figures are very fine, and 

 not in broad, distinct plates, while some of them are even 

 microscopic ; and yet from this iron was obtained a far more 

 perfect octahedron than from any of those with a coarser struct- 

 ure. The smaller sketch shows one face of such an octahe- 

 dron, twice the original size. This octahedron showed seven per- 

 fectly even regular octahedral faces, the eighth face having been 

 hollowed out where it formed part of the crust of the meteorite. 



