4 



NATUKAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



als (many of which are never found 

 in terrestrial rocks), interspersed 

 with nodules of nickeliferous iron 

 and cemented together by com- 

 pounds of the oxides of iron. If 

 exposed to atmospheric influence 

 for a few years only, the mass dis- 

 integrates and falls to pieces, and 

 this probably explains why so few 

 aerolites have ever been found ex- 

 cept in immediate connection with 

 their fall. The siderites, on the 

 other hand, remain for centuries 

 but slightly altered. 



According to Maskelyne the 

 following 24 elements have been 

 detected in aerolites, namely, hy- 

 drogen, lithium, sodium, potassium, 

 magnesium, calcium, aluminum, man- 

 ganese, iron, nickel, cobalt, copper, 

 tin, antimony, arsenic, vanadium, 

 phosphorus, sulphur, oxygen, sili- 

 con, carbon and chlorine. Those 

 italicized are also shown by the 

 spectroscope to exist in the sun, 

 together with zinc, strontium, and 

 cadmium, which thus far have not 

 been found in meteorites. 



ORIGIN OF METEORITES. 



The origin of these bodies is as 

 yet a matter of speculation. They 

 enter our atmosphere, however, 

 with a velocity so great (often ex- 

 ceeding 20 miles per second) as to 

 make it certain that they do not 

 come from any terrestrial source, 

 or even from the moon. And for 

 the same reason they cannot well 

 be, as some have thought, "the 

 minute outriders of the great fami- 

 ly of the asteroids," for then the 

 velocity with which they would 

 reach us would be only the differ- 

 ence between their velocity and 

 ours. It seems impossible to avoid 

 the conclusion that their orbits 

 must be unplanetary, not approxi- 

 mately circular, but very eccentric, 

 like those of comets and the ordi- 

 nary shooting stars. It may be, 

 as Mr. Proctor has suggested, that 

 some of them, the siderites espec- 

 ially, have been 'ejected from our 

 own or some other sun, by some of 

 those tremendous outbursts of solar 

 energy which we occasionally ob- 

 serve with our spectroscopes; or 

 they may have originated, as Moigno 

 argues, in the cracking to pieces of 

 some old and used-up world. 



At present, all we know is that 

 they come to us from the outer 

 darkness of interstellar space. As 

 Humboldt has said: "They pre- 

 sent to us the solitary instance of 

 a material connection with some- 

 thing which is foreign to our plan- 

 et. We are astonished at being 

 able to touch, weigh, and chemi- 

 cally decompose metallic and earthy 



masses which belong to the outer 

 world — to celestial space — and to 

 find in them the elements of our 

 native earth, making it probable, 

 as the great Newton conjectured, 

 that the materials which belong to 

 our group of cosmical bodies are, 

 for the most part, the same" — Pro- 

 fessor C.A. Young, in a Boston Jour- 

 nal of Chemistry of 1876. 



The Arizona Antiquarion So- 

 ciety. 



This society was organized at 

 Prescott, Arizona, December, 1895. 

 Its object is to form a representive 

 collection of Arizona's relics of an- 

 cient races, and incidently to form a 

 museum of all the curiosities and 

 scientific specimens to be found in 

 Territory. Persons having speci- 

 mens or information of value are 

 requested to send them to the 

 President, Dr. Miller of Prescott. 

 Specimens may also be sent to the 

 University of Arizona, at Tucson, 

 label specimen "for the Collection 

 of the Antiquarian Society." 



The next meeting will be in July 

 at Flagstaff, Arizona. All inter- 

 ested citizens of Arizona are asked 

 to join. 



Mineral and Vegetable Waxes. 



Mineral waxes are hydrocarbons, 

 often crystallizable, and differing 

 from each other in their tempera- 

 ture of fusion. They are frequent- 

 ly derived from resinous trees bur- 

 ied in the peat beds, and rarely 

 from lignites or coal formations. 

 The principal variety used indus- 

 trially is ozokerit, sometimes called 

 natural paraffin. It is less dense 

 than water, of a waxy luster, and 

 in one direction presents a con- 

 choidal fracture, breaking into thin 

 transluent scales. Its color is a 

 brownish green by reflected light 

 or yellowish brown or red by trans- 

 mitted light. Powdered, it is a 

 yellowish white. It is soft, flex- 

 ible, cuts like wax, and softens at 

 a low temperature. The odor is 

 aromatic, and becomes more bitu- 

 minus when the wax is rubbed. 

 Friction also electrifies it negative- 

 ly. It is fusible into a clear oily 

 liquid, and burns with a bright 

 flame. It is soluble entirely in 

 turpentine and naptha, more or 

 less in ether, and slightly so in 

 boiling alcohol, when the material 

 separates in crystalline state on 

 cooling. It is unattackable by sul- 

 phuric acid. 



Ozokerit is found in the Caucas- 

 us, in England, and in Austria. 

 In Moldavia, it is directly employ- 

 ed for illumination, being used in 

 gas making, and in the manufac- 

 ture of candles. A factory in 

 Frankfort on the Oder prepares 

 the material under the name of 

 ceresine, and prodnces over 100,- 

 000 lbs. yearly. Ozokerit, in pur- 

 ified form, is largely used by per- 

 fumers and in pharmacy in place 

 of beeswax, as it hinders medica- 

 ments from becoming rancid. 



A similar substance, now but 

 little employed, is hatchetin or 

 mineral adipocere. This is of a 

 yellowish white color, has a 

 mother-of-pearl luster, is very soft 

 and is of about the consistence of 

 spermaceti. It is found in Bel- 

 gium, Moravia, Bohemia, Wales, 

 and England. It is scarcely at- 

 tacked by nitric acid, but is com- 

 pletely carbonized by sulphuric 

 acid. It is slightly soluble in boil- 

 ing alcohol and in ether, leaving a 

 viscous and inodorous residue. 



Other mineral waxes are neft-gil, 

 found in the island of Tschelekan 

 in the Caspain Sea, near naptha 

 sources, and balkerite, from the 

 vicinity of Lake Baikal. These 

 are fossil waxes, or more probably 

 bitumens, as are also kir and elat- 

 erite. The latter, often termed 

 elastic bitumen or mineral caout- 

 chouc, is of less density than water, 

 of a blackish color, and is elastic 

 like rubber. It has been found in 

 this country, near Woodbury, 

 Conn., and in many parts of Great 

 Britain. 



There is a large number of veg- 

 etable waxes but slightly known. 

 Some are secreted by insects, 

 which absorb the sap of various 

 plants. Others are derived from 

 the exudations of palm trees. The 

 Copemicia cerifera, a Brazilian tree, 

 bears leaves from the glands of 

 which carnauba wax is obtained. 

 The commerce in this material ex- 

 ceeds 2,000,000 lbs. yearly. In 

 the Andes there exists the ceroxy- 

 lon andicola, which also yields a 

 material known as palm wax.- — La 

 Nature. 



