1214 ` General Notes. ‘ : [December, 
of Vienna? This is ostensibly a report on the condition of the 
meteoric collection belonging to the cabinet, but really contains 
much matter of very general interest. Brezina can find nothing 
in the structure of the meteorites to indicate a secondary or con- 
glomerate nature. He regards them as the product of a very 
rapid crystallization from a homogeneous magma. Respecting 
their origin, he considers the old theory of Chladni (1818) and 
von Hoff (1835) as the most probable. According to this the 
meteorites reach the external atmosphere of the earth as dust- 
like or gaseous agglomerations, which, by the sudden diminution 
of their cosmic velocity, are enormously heated and at the same 
time condensed into solid bodies. The classification adopted is 
in the main a petrographical one, following in the principal groups 
those of Rose and Tschermak. Many new subdivisions are, 
however, introduced to cover the results of the more thorough 
and elaborate study. The meteoritic collection in Vienna is the 
largest in the world, representing 358 localities, while that of 
London has 350 and that of Paris 300. 
Short notices have recently appeared by Professor C. U. 
‘Shepard, on the Fomatlan, Jalisco, Mexico meteorite (which fell 
August, 1879), which is composed largely of olivine and octahedral 
crystals of nickeliferous iron;? also by the same writer on the 
meteoric iron of Trinity county, California Meteoric irons have 
also been described and analyzed by N. T. Lupton from Santa 
Rosa, Mexico ;* by George F. Kunz, from Glorietta Mt., Santa 
Fé county,’ New Mexico; and by R. B. Riggs, from Grand 
Rapids, Michigan.® 
MINERALOGICAL News.—All mineralogists will be glad to wel- 
come the new and enlarged edition of Professor P. Groth’s inval- 
uable treatise on physical crystallography.” This work, which 
has done such good service ever since its appearance in 1876, has 
been partially rewritten and considerably extended, especially by 
its descriptions of all the newest methods and apparatus for min- 
eralogical investigation. The admirable text book of mineral- 
ogy by Professor G. Tschermak, published in 1884, has become 
so popular that a second enlarged edition of it has already 
peared.’ ——Professor J. Hirschwald, of Berlin, has issued a 
_ systematic description of the mineral collection of the Royal 
_ Technical High School, which will be of service to all mineral- 
-_ 1Die Meteoritensammlung des k. k. mineralogischen Hofkabinets in Wien am I 
_ Mai, 1885. Jahrbuch der k. k. Geol. Reichsanstalt, XXXV, p. 126, 1885 
? Am. Jour. Science, Aug., 1885. 
Ib, June, 1885. 
*Ib., March, 1885. 
Ib., September, 1885. ; 
Physikaliscl ee. Zweite auflage. Leipzig, 1885. 
puch der Mineralogie. 2te Auflage. Wien, 1885. pp. 598. 
ta 
