334 Report on the Shallca, 8fc. Meteorites. [No. 2, 
the two first of them with natural fracture, and crust : the third 
with a polished surface of about a square inch.* 
III.- — Assam (Found 1846). 
The only notice concerning this meteorite is to he found in the 
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Vol. XV. Proceedings 
June, 1846, p. 46, and 76, and Vol. XXVIII. Proceedings June, 
1859.) The place of its fall is still unknown. The late Mr. Pid- 
dington found it, in September 1846, among the collections of the 
Coal and Iron Committee, containing hut few specimens other than 
those collected in Assam, and he inferred from this circumstance that 
the meteorite had actually fallen in that country. Three fragments 
of 1 lb. 8f ounces, and 7-§ ounces, were found ; two of them evident- 
ly fragments of the same stone ; the third similar in composition but 
certainly once a part of a different stone. According to Mr. Pidding- 
ton, one of the fragments is richer in cobalt and poorer in nickel 
while in the other the latter metal prevails. Mr. Piddington most 
adequately described the Assam meteorite as being “ beautifully 
marbled.” . It is remarkably firm and compact, taking a fine polish 
like the meteorites of Seres, Barbotan, Mezo-Madaras, Chantonnay, 
and other compact and firm meteorites of Rn. Reichenbach's III. 
Family. Baron Reichenbach has placed the stones of Chantonnay, 
and Mayence in his VI. Family on account of their larger brown 
spots, nevertheless Partsch’s description ( Die Meteoriten 1843 
p. 38,) and the original specimen in the Imperial Museum bear a 
striking resemblance to the Assam meteorite. The term marbled is 
used in Partsch s, as in Piddington’s description. The fundamental 
substance is of a light grey. It includes lighter grey fragments of 
irregularly rounded outlines of about square inch ; then numerous 
more or less spherical (to judge by their section) particles, others 
smaller and quite black together with light ash-grey particles of vari- 
ous size. The included light grey fragments include again smaller 
brown particles, and others, yellow and white, of metallic nature ; all 
of them of a fragmentary aspect. 
Atoms of metallic iron, (here and there larger granules of J-j- of 
an inch in diameter) and magnetic pyrites, both in nearly equal 
* Much more detailed particulars as communicated by Mr. Oldham to Dr. 
Haidinger, were given to the Imperial Academy of Vienna in November, 
