412 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



Whether there may be any truth in these theories or not, 

 I cannot determine, only they make me the more anxious that 

 we should be possessed of a map of reference of these strange 

 phenomena ; and I hope our townsman, Mr Alexander Keith 

 Johnston, will be good enough to give my hint of a map of the 

 "Distribution of Meteorites over the Surface of the Earth"* 

 his favourable consideration, when preparing for publication 

 a new edition of his valuable national work, the " Atlas of 

 Physical Phenomena." 



[Since this paper was read, the half of the Meteorite, which 

 was broken into two portions, has been cut into several sec- 

 tions or slices ; and in the process of doing so, it was found 

 that the lobed or rounded portion was very hard and dense, re- 

 sembling cast-iron in its character, it was harder than untem- 

 pered steel of the best quality, but not so hard as the pre- 

 pared steel plate of the engraver ; while the pointed portion was 

 softer and tougher, and was stated to resemble iron to which a 

 small portion of malleable iron had been added. The slices 

 showed that the mass was dense and metallic throughout, with 

 the exception of a small part of the pointed portion, next the 

 deep furrow which partially divided the mass (and by which 

 it became separated into two) ; the metal here was marked over 

 with dull spots, like corrosions, and seemed less pure and 

 crystalline, appearing as if mixed with dross. A portion of 

 this latter part was given to Dr Murray Thomson to examine 

 specially for the presence of magnetic oxide of iron ; and Dr 

 Thomson has accordingly added some notes on the subject 

 to his previous communication. 



The mass of iron was apparently not malleable, but brittle 

 in its character. It would therefore, according to the classifi- 

 cation proposed by Professor C. U. Shepard in his Report on 

 Meteorites, belong to the 2d Section — Alloyed, of the 3d 

 Order — Brittle, of his 1st Class — Metallic Meteorites. 

 (See " Silliman's American Journal" for 1846 and 1847.) 



* Mr R. P. Greg of Manchester has since informed me that maps of meteoric 

 deposition have been lately published, in illustration of a memoir — " Ueber 

 den Ursprung der Meteorsteine" — by P. A. Kesselmeyer; in the third volume 

 of the " Abhandlungen, Herausgegeben von der Senckenbergischen Naturfor- 

 schenden Gesellschaft, Frankfurt A. M., 1859-61." 



