398 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society, 



ing the iron ; and in this way an exact representation of both 

 its sides was obtained. From one of these photographs the 

 accompanying Plate of the meteorite is taken. 



Plaster Casts. — For the purpose of preserving completely 

 the original appearance of the meteorite, a mould was care- 

 fully taken before it was sent to the lapidary to be cut. This 

 has been very successfully done, as shown by the casts* ex- 

 hibited, coloured after the original. 



Rarity. — This mass of meteoric iron is the largest that 

 has yet been discovered in Great Britain ; only one other 

 indeed, is known, a very small one — about the size of a 

 hazel-nut. Robert Philips Greg, Esq., of Manchester, in 

 his recently published valuable work,f and in letters with 

 which he has favoured me, states that this small mass of 

 meteoric iron " was found a good many years back by Da 

 Costa, at Leadhills ; and is now in Mr Greg's collection." 

 It has since been secured for the national collection, the 

 British Museum. Mr Greg tells us the proportion of me- 

 teoric stone to iron falls may be taken at 25 to 1, — i. e. } 96 

 per cent, of all that fall consist of stony matter; and in his 

 Mineralogy he gives a list of nineteen or twenty meteoric 

 stones, the fall of which has been recorded, as occurring in 

 Great Britain and Ireland. The instance above referred to 

 is, however, the only one of meteoric iron previously known 

 and recorded. In the neighbouring country of France one 

 specimen has been observed ; and Mr Greg gives twenty-seven 

 instances of meteoric irons found in the old world. 



History of the Discovery of the Meteoric Iron. — The 

 ancient village of Newstead, where this mass of iron was 

 found many years ago, lies at the eastern extremity of the 

 valley of Melrose, its cottages rising gradually up the bank, 

 towards the higher ground beyond, which was probably the 

 site, as I have formerly pointed out, of the Roman town of 

 Trimontium.J Having already referred to this neighbour- 



* Mr Alexander Stewart, 1 Surgeon Square, will be glad to supply casts, at 

 a very moderate price, to any one who may wish to possess an exact fac simile 

 of this rare specimen of a Scottish meteoric iron. 



t A Manual of the Mineralogy of Great Britain and Ireland. By It, P. 

 Greg and W. G. Letsom. London : 1858. 



I See Trans., vol. iv., and Proc. Sac. Ant. Scot., vol. i. &c. 



