Fireball observed near Auchterarder, Perthshire. 67 
strongly of its relation solely to the earth, and especially 
to the coal formation ; indeed, it appears to be simply a 
weathered portion of one of those veins or thin seams of 
iron pyrites which are so common in our beds of coal, having 
been probably brought, with the manures, to the field where 
it was afterwards found. I showed the specimen to various 
friends, and they agreed with me there could be no doubt of 
its being simply a mass of white iron pyrites. The existence 
of the sulpliureous smell in its gradual decomx^osition after 
continued exposure to the weather, was of course to be ex- 
pected from its composition as a sulpliuret of iron ; and the 
same decomposition would also account for the blackened 
appearance of the vegetation round the crumbling mass of 
coal and pyrites. 
The broken portions of the stone I put into the hands 
of our member and well-known lecturer on cliemistry, Dr 
Murray Thomson, telling him nothing of its history, and re- 
questing to know if it contained any metal besides iron ; and 
was favoured with a reply, stating, he had made a length- 
ened examination of the substance sent him, and could 
detect no traces of any metal except iron. I then informed 
Dr Murray Thomson of the chemical analysis which had 
been made, and the reported discovery of nickel in the mass, 
and have since been favoured with the following notes : — 
" Having been asked by Dr Smith to examine some powder 
which appeared like sulphuret of iron, with a request that I 
should look for other metals than iron, I did so, but was 
unsuccessful in finding anything else than iron and sulphur, 
and a little siliceous matter. Lead, cox)per, arsenic, man- 
ganese, alumina, cobalt, nickel, as well as tin and magnesia, 
were specially looked for. I could not, however, detect any. 
" Dr S., since I reported this result to him, has showed me 
an analysis of the mass, in which it is stated that a large 
amount of nickel was found ; as this result surprised me 
much, I have again carefully tested the substance for nickel, 
but was again quite unsuccessful in finding any.'' 
In the newspaper paragraph quoted at the commencement 
of these remarks, it was stated that another meteor had 
fallen the same evening near Stirling. 
