148 



Mr. N. Story-Maskelyne on the [Jan. 13, 



in the receiver. Finally, 0*75 cub. centim. of sulphuric acid is introduced 

 into the retort, and the temperature again raised to 160°C, the stream of 

 hydrogen being continued as before. 



The several ammoniacal charges are poured into a platinum dish, together 

 with the washings of the delivery-tube and the two test-tubes, and slowly 

 evaporated in a water-bath, with continued stirring. 



At a point in the evaporation just before the solution becomes neutral 

 and the ammonium fluoride begins to turn acid, the entire silica in the dish 

 will have been dissolved by the fluoride. The process is gradual, but the 

 moment when the solution is complete is easily determined. Then, the 

 dish being removed, potassic chloride is added in slight excess, together 

 with absolute alcohol equal in volume to the contents of the platinum 

 vessel. Potassium fluosilicate precipitates, which, after the lapse of 

 twenty-four hours, is filtered, washed with a mixture of equal volumes of 

 absolute alcohol and water, dried, and weighed. The results are accurate. 

 In the retort are the bases in the form of sulphates, the treatment of which 

 calls for no further remark. 



III. The Busti Aerolite of 1852. 



This meteorite fell on the 2nd of December, 1852, about six miles 

 south of Busti, a station halfway between Goruckpoor and Fyzabad in 

 India, and nearly in lat. 26° 45' N. and long. 82° 42' E. For an ac- 

 count of the circumstances attending its fall I am indebted to Mr. George 

 Osborne, at that time resident at Busti, and who presented this stone (the 

 only specimen of the fall that he was able to procure) to the East India 

 Company. Mr. Osborne states that the fall took place at ten minutes past 

 ten in the morning, and was attended by an explosion louder than a thunder- 

 clap, and lasting from three to five minutes. At Goruckpoor the report 

 appeared to approach in a direction from N.N.W. ; at Busti the sound 

 seemed to come from the zenith, and proceed in a somewhat easterly course. 



The explosion that shattered the meteorite must have occurred soon after 

 its passing the longitude of Goruckpoor, There was no cloud in the sky 

 at the time. The stone, which weighed about 3 lbs., was presented to the 

 collection at the British Museum by the Secretary of State for India. 



The Busti aerolite bears a great resemblance to the stone that fell on 

 the 25th of March, 1843, at Bishopsville, South Carolina, U.S. A crust, 

 coating the larger part of the stone, was of a dark yellowish brown, with a 

 few yellowish-white porphyritic-looking patches at it flat end, whilst a 

 yellowish enamel, mingled with dark grey, covered a hollow portion on 

 one side of the stone. 



It is difficult to refer these markings to the minerals underlying them, 

 a similar crust covering both the augite and enstatite of the meteorite. 

 They are probably due to the alterative action of the oxidized products of 

 the nickeliferous iron on the silicates in a state of fusion during the rapid 

 passage of the stone through the atmosphere. 



