METEORITES, AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. 
397 
The atomic ratio of carbon to hydrogen, then, is nearly 1 : 1, or 
that of the reddish-brown and colourless mineral resin kon- 
leinite, which occurs in crystalline plates and grains in the 
lignite of Uznach, in Switzerland. Kraus makes the fusing- 
point of konleinite 114° C. ; it is slightly soluble in alcohol, but 
much more soluble in ether. Dr. Lawrence Smith, who has 
recently examined the Alais meteorite, arrives at the same results 
as Roscoe ; and also that the carbonaceous ingredient of this 
meteorite resembles in all its physical characters those of a sub- 
stance which he obtained from the graphite of the Sevier- 
County meteoric iron, to which I shall presently refer. 
1838. October 13 th, 9 a.m. — At the hour mentioned a 
great number of large stones fell over a considerable area at 
Kold-Bokkeveld, seventy miles from Cape Town. Those which 
fell near Tulbagh are estimated to have weighed many hundred- 
weights. It is said that they were soft when they fell, but 
became hard after a time. This material has a dull black 
colour, and is very porous and friable. Harris, who analysed it 
in 1859, determined the presence of 1*67 per cent, of carbon, 
and somewhat more than 0*25 per cent, of an organic substance 
soluble in alcohol. This compound is described as possessing a 
yellow colour, and a soft resinous, or waxy, aspect. It readily 
fused with a slight rise of temperature, and when heated in a 
tube it was decomposed, emitting a strong bituminous odour, 
and leaving a carbonaceous residue. Some four years ago I 
was considering what should be done with a trace of this sub- 
stance, so small in amount that it could not be removed from 
the vessel containing it. I was unwilling to throw away even 
so small a quantity of so precious a substance, so I drew off the 
neck of the flask and placed it in a dark cupboard ot a room, the 
temperature of which, during the greater part of the year, 
is unusually high. In the interval this organic compound 
has sublimed, and is deposited on the higher parts of the vessel 
in colourless and well-defined crystalline plates. 
1840. — During this year a large mass of meteoric iron 
was discovered in Sevier County, Tennessee, enclosing a large 
nodule of graphite. 46 It is,” writes Dr. Lawrence Smith, 44 the 
largest mass of graphite which has come under my observa- 
tion, and is perhaps the largest known.” Its dimensions are 
60 mm by 20 mm and 35 mm , and it weighs 92 grammes. Two 
grammes of this nodule were reduced to powder and treated with 
ether, and the liquid on evaporation left a residue weighing 1 5 
milligrammes, and possessing an aromatic, somewhat alliaceous, 
odour. It consisted of long colourless acicular crystals, others 
which were shorter, as well as some rhomboidal crystals and 
rounded particles. This extracted substance melted at about 
120°C. When heated in a tube closed at one end it melts and 
