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characters the same resemblance to hexagonal nepheline as chalcedony does 
to quartz. By melting together one-tenth pyroxene and nine-tenths nepheline 
a mixture of four different minerals was obtained: nepheline, pale green 
spinel, garnet in brown-yellow octahedra, and microlite. Leucite was also 
found in the fused product, and resembled both in form and optical 
characters the natural mineral. — ( Compt . rend, lxxxvii. 961.) 
The Supposed Native Iron of Greenland . — The Academy of Sciences of 
Paris appointed a commission to report on a paper by Dr. L. Smith on the 
u Supposed Native Iron of Greenland,” and their report has recently been 
presented by M. Daubr^e. It is pointed out that the bodies which come 
from beyond our atmosphere, and which are called meteorites, present as 
regards their mineralogical constitution a most striking resemblance to 
certain terrestrial rocks. The important fact that masses derived from most 
widely separated regions of space should present such resemblance was 
pointed out by Nordenskjold in 1870, when he discovered large masses of 
native iron at Ovifak, on the Island of Disco. The first thought which 
suggested itself to him was that they were of meteoric origin. In order to 
explain the fact that these masses were forced into the basalt, he assumed 
that they had fallen into it while it was still liquid. Many adopted this 
view, and among others Nauckhoff and Tschermak. Steenstrup, on the other 
hand, after visiting the locality twice, came to the conclusion that they were' 
masses of native iron, and that they had the same terrestrial origin as the 
basalt itself. Not far from Ovifak in the Waigatstrasse, Steenstrup found 
evidence which supported his theory : in the basalt of Igdlokungoak he hit 
upon a large mass of nickeliferous magnetic pyrites weighing about 28,000 
kilogrammes, and again in the basalt of Aussuk small grains of native iron. 
The graphite associated with this iron pointed to the probability that car- 
bonaceous substances had reduced this metal ; moreover the rock enclosing 
the native iron also contained some of the ferric hydrated silicate which 
has received the name of hisingerite. With these opposing views, so 
plainly set forth, Dr. L. Smith has gone over the whole question, and comes 
to the same conclusion as Steenstrup, that the masses of metal are of 
terrestrial origin. He finds that in the dolerite of Aussuk, as well as that 
of Ovifak which it closely resembles, metallic iron is found enclosed in 
labradorite ; anorthite is likewise found in certain parts of the mass of the 
rock and oligoclase also. Iron has been obtained from seven localities in 
Greenland : from Sowallicke, Fiskenas, Niakornak, Gluck’s Bay, Jacobshavn, 
Ovifak, and Aussuk. The irons of Sowallicke and Niakornak are found by 
Dr. L. Smith to contain combined carbon just as the Ovifak iron does; in 
fact, he states that all specimens of iron obtained from Greenland are similar 
in this respect, and differ from meteoric iron which contains no combined 
carbon ; moreover these masses all contain cobalt in considerable quantity 
in relation to the nickel. Dr. Shaith next refers to the similar geological 
character of the area where the irons have been met with, it being found 
only in the basalt region, which extends from 69° to 76° where it disappears 
under a large glacier. We shall probably never know how wide the extent 
is of this volcanic area which stretches far away north ; that, however, which 
has been seen represents an area equal to one extending from Gibraltar to 
Brest. We know that the rocks which present the greatest resemblance to 
