514 JF r . II. Melville — Josejyliinite, a new Nickel-Iron. 



bles when treated with dilate hydrochloric acid at the tem- 

 perature of the water bath gave the odor characteristic of the 

 decomposition of a carbide, so that the volatile matter given 

 in the analysis consists of organic matter, namely combined 

 carbon and probably a hydrocarbon. All loss arising from the 

 volatilization of arsenic, sulphur and chlorine have not been 

 included in the per cent given for volatile matter. 



Nickel-Iron. — Of special interest is the metallic portion. 







(i) 



(2) 



At. ratio, 



Two analyses gave : 



— Fe 



23-36 



23-09 



0-41 





Ni 



60-47 



60-43 



1-03 



From this ratio is deduced the formula Fe 2 Ni 5 . 

 The following table gives a comparison of a few examples 

 of nickeliferous iron which form an instructive series : 



Catarinite.* Octibbehite.f Awaruite.:): Josephinite. 

 Iron 63-69 37*69 3102 23-22 



Nickel 33-97 59*69 67*63 60-45 



Atomic Ratio 1 1>U:0 . 58 . 66:1 . 02 -55 : 1*17 0-41:1-03 

 Jb : m j 



2(FeNi 2 ) 



Formula Fe 2 Ni Fe 2 Ni 3 Fe 2 Ni 4 Fe 2 Ni 5 



The question naturally arises whether the origin of these 

 pebbles is cosmic (meteoric) or terrestrial. Catarinite and 

 octibbehite have been considered meteoric falls, while awaruite 

 has been traced from the drift in the Awarua river on the 

 western side of the middle island of New Zealand to a " moun- 

 tain of peridotite, an olivine-enstatite rock more or less serpen- 

 tinized," and is undoubtedly terrestrial. In the drift are found 

 gold, platinum, cassiterite, chromite and magnetite. The 

 placer gravel, in which josephinite is found, is like that of 

 New Zealand with the exception of the occurrence of plati- 

 num! and cassiterite so far as known at present. 



There is one element, phosphorus, which is almost univer- 

 sally found in meteorites and combined with nickel and iron 

 to form the mineral schreibersite, which has no representative 

 among terrestrial minerals. After evaporating to dryness a 

 nitric acid solution of a sample of the pebbles, and fusing the 

 residue with sodium carbonate and potassium nitrate, phospho- 

 ric acid was not detected in the acid filtrate, and thus was 



* Encvclopedie chimique, Fremy, Metalloids, Tome ii, par M. Stanislas Meunier. 



f This Journal, II, xxiv, p. 293, Taylor. 



\ This Journal, vol. xxxiii, p. 244, G. H. F. Ulrich ; analysis by W. Skey. 

 A. Sella described a nickel-iron from the auriferous sands of the stream 

 Elvo, near Biella Piedmont; Fe 26-6 per cent; Ni(Co) 75-2 per cent; formula 

 2(FeNi 3 ) = Fe 2 Ni 6 . C. R. cxii. 171 ; also this Journal, III, p. 252, 1891. 



§ Platinum occurs in the region of Rogue river, Oregon. 



