METEORIC DUSTS, N.S.W. 251 



In 1873, Prof. Nordenskjold obtained rounded grains of 

 metallic iron from hail which fell in Stockholm, other 

 observers had done the same as far back as 1821 ; Cozari 

 had in 1834 shown the presence of nickel in the iron brought 

 down by hail. 



Dr. Henry Rink, writing from Christiana, Norway, 

 ("Nature," Dec. 13, 1883) draws attention to the fact that 

 the ice of icebergs which are made up of ancient snows 

 ought to yield large quantities of Nordenskj old's cosmic 

 dust, although he had never observed its presence insuch ice. 



Reichenbach found traces of cobalt and nickel in the soil 

 from the Lahisberg in Austria, from the Haindelberg, 

 Kallenberg and Dreymarksteinberg, and nickel in the soil 

 of the Marchfeld Plain; 1 the hills consist of sandstone and 

 limestone and are free from mineral veins. Haidinger 

 suggested that impoverished soils when allowed to lie fallow 

 acquire a fresh supply of phosphorus from such meteoric 

 dust. 



In the report for 1882 of the Committee of the British 

 Association appointed for the purpose of investigating the 

 practicability of collecting and identifying meteoric dust 

 etc., drawn up by Prof. Schuster, it is stated that the dust 

 falls frequently observed in the Atlantic, the southern parts 

 of Italy, and sometimes in the Red Sea, were at one time 

 supposed to be of meteoric origin, but it has now been 

 conclusively proved that the dust has its origin in the sandy 

 deserts of northern Africa, whence it is carried by the 

 winds often through considerable distances, the grosser 

 particles falling down first, so that ultimately only the 

 finest remain in suspension. Although these dust storms 

 are of terrestrial origin, yet they carry magnetic and other 

 particles which are of meteoric origin. 2 



1 Dr. Flight, Geological Magazine, 1875, p. 162. 



2 See Tissandier's Les poussieres de 1' air, Paris 1877. 



