98 THE DENILIQIJIN OR BAEEATTA METEORITE. 



it was about a quarter of a mile from their tent. A few days after this Jones 

 went to the place, and the other men pointed put to him where the stone fell; 

 he found the meteorite about half buried in the ground, which it had ploughed 

 up for a considerable distance. The stone was cracked in several places, 

 but he could not remember particularly, as it was so long since. Subsequently, 

 in correspondence about the meteorite, I learn from Mr. F. Grwynne, of 

 Murgah, the next station to Barratta, that he found the stone when riding 

 over Barratta Plain, about the year 1845. As far as he can recollect, the 

 meteorite was about 30 inches in diameter, and about 12 inches thick, 

 and must have weighed between 2 and 3 cwt. It was lying flat on the 

 ground ; nor was there any indentation which might lead to the supposition 

 that it had been dug up by the blacks. So far as Mr. Gwyime could judge, 

 it might have been where he saw it for many years. The blacks could not 

 give any account of it, It thus appears that the history of the Barratta 

 meteorite is not satisfactory, and all my efforts to clear the matter up have 

 so far proved useless. Mr. Robertson, who from tlie first has taken very 

 great interest in the matter, has most ably assisted me in my endeavours to 

 find the fencers who are said to have seen the stone fall into the ground, but 

 we have not been able to find them, and the history must, for the pi-esent at 

 least, be left as here given." 



The meteorite being Mr. Russell's private property, it is still 

 in his jjossession. 



By way of introduction, I will now, with your permission, and 

 in the briefest possible manner, pass in review some of the best 

 known facts relating to meteorites generally, so that whatever 

 I may have to say respecting the Deniliquin meteorite may be 

 made as clear as possible. 



Origin of Meteorites. 



With regard to the origin of meteorites very little indeed is 

 known with any degree of certainty, but numerous hypotheses have 

 been put forth from time to time. 



One is, that they have been ejected from lunar volcanoes ; 

 another, that they are ejections from the sun ; a third regards 

 them as fragments of a former satellite or moon of the earth's 

 which has undergone destruction ; and a fourth would account for 

 them by supposing them to be fragments of a destroyed planet 

 now represented by the asteroids. 



But against these hypotheses there are more or less weighty 

 objections. One great objection is that some meteorites revolve in 

 a direction opposite to that taken by other heavenly bodies round 

 the sun ; and moreover, the chemical composition of many renders 

 it utterly impossible that they could have emanated from the sun, 

 and passed through the fiery ordeal of its chromosphere. 



Composition of Meteorites. 



For convenience we classify meteorites under three heads, as 

 determined by their chemical composition : — 



a. Metallic Meteorites, composed mainly of metallic iron and 

 nickel. These liave been termed siderites. 



