Mi Selections, [no. 2, new series, 
to be rendered much more probable. Again, in looking at the 
wood which immediately surrounded thatpovtion of the mass which 
remained, as it is now, firmly inserted in the tree, a blackened 
substance was observed to be interpolated between the supposed 
meteorite and the surrounding sound wood. On the outside of 
this substance (which had somewhat a charred aspect) we observ- 
ed a tiue bark, which follows the sinuosities of the wood wherever 
the latter appears to have been influenced by the intrusion of the 
foreign mineral matter. 
" Seeing thus enough to satisfy our conjecture, if sanctioned by 
other evidence, I desired Mr. Poole to' bring all the fragments of 
the wood he had not destroyed which surrounded this body. On 
placing the ends of some of these (also now exhibited) on the parts 
from which they had been sawed off, they indicated that the space 
between the mineral substance and the surrounding sound wood 
widened upwards ; the decayed wood passing into brown earthy 
matter with an opening or cavity into which rootlets extended. On 
interrogating Mr. Poole, who cut down the tree and superintended 
the breaking up of its timber, I learnt from him all requisite parti- 
culars respecting its dimensions, the position of the ferruginous 
mass, the quantity of wood above and below it, a description of the 
place where the stool of the tree was still to be seen, and of the 
parties who, living on the spot, were acquainted with every circum- 
stance which could throw light on the case. 
** At this period of the inquiry, the Museum in Jermyn Street 
was visited by Dr. Shepard, Professor in the University College, 
Amherst, United States, whose researches on meteorites are widely 
known, and who has furnished an able classification of them by 
which they are divided into the two great classes of stony and me- 
tallic. Having carefully examined the specimen, Dr. Shepard 
expressed his decided belief that it was a true meteorite, and the 
next day wrote to me the following account of it ; at the same time 
referring m.e most obligingly to a series of interesting publications 
on the subject as printed in America and Europe*^- : — 
* Dr. Shepard's numerous memoirs on meteorites are all to be found in the vo- 
lumes of the American Journal of Science and Art, and in the same work the read- 
er will find not only the general classification of these bodies by this author, who 
