398 Pmceedings of the Royal Physical Society, 
ing the iron ; and in this way an exact representation of both 
its sides was obtained. From one of these photographs the 
accompanying Plate of the meteorite is taken. 
Plaster Casts. — For the purpose of preserving completely 
the original appearance of the meteorite, a mould was care- 
fully taken before it was sent to the lapidary to be cut. This 
has been very successfully done, as shown by the casts* ex- 
hibited, coloured after the original. 
Rarity. — This mass of meteoric iron is the largest that 
has yet been discovered in Great Britain ; only one other 
indeed, is known, a very small one — about the size of a 
hazel-nut. Robert Philips Greg, Esq., of Manchester, in 
his recently published valuable work,f and in letters with 
which he has favoured me, states that this small mass of 
meteoric iron " was found a good many years back by Da 
Costa, at LeadhillSj and is now in Mr Greg's collection." 
It has since been secured for the national collection, the 
British Museum. Mr Greg tells us the proportion of me- 
teoric stone to iron falls may be taken at 25 to 1, — i. e., 96 
per cent, of all that fall consist of stony matter; and in his 
Mineralogy he gives a list of nineteen or twenty meteoric 
stones, the fall of which has been recorded, as occurring in 
Great Britain and Ireland. The instance above referred to 
is, however, the only one of meteoric iron previously known 
and recorded. In the neighbouring country of France one 
specimen has been observed ; and Mr Greg gives twenty-seven 
instances of meteoric irons found in the old world. 
History of the Discovery of the Meteoric Iron. — The 
ancient village of Newstead, where this mass of iron was 
found many years ago, lies at the eastern extremity of the 
valley of Melrose, its cottages rising gradually up the bank, 
towards the higher ground beyond, which was probably the 
site, as I have formerly pointed out, of the Roman town of 
Trimontium.J Having already referred to this neighbour- 
* Mr Alexander Stewart, 1 Surgeon Square, will be glad to supply casts, at 
a very moderate price, to any one who may wish to possess an exact /ac simile 
of this rare specimen of a Scottish meteoric iron. 
t A Manual of the Mineralogy of Great Britain and Ireland. By li. P. 
Greg and W. G. Letsom. London : 1858. 
X See Trans., vol. iv., and Proc. Sac. Ant. Scot., vol. i. &c. 
