VICTORIAN METEORITES, WITH NOTES ON OBSIDIANITES. 
construction of the Gippsland railway. The position given 
would be well within the Parish of Pakenham and not that of 
Berwick. The line referred to is that from Oakleigh to Sale, 
authorized by Parliament in 1873. The first section of it, which 
includes Beaconsfield, about midway between the terminal stations 
Oakleigh and Bunyip, was opened for public traffic in October, 1877, 
so that it may reasonably be inferred that 1876 was the probable 
year of discovery. 
The meteorite is stated to have lain for many years unnoticed 
until it attracted the attention of a blacksmith, named Feltus, who 
believed it to be a part of a mineral vein. He sent a piece to Mr. 
R. A. F. Murray, then Government Geologist, who at once recognised 
its true nature. In 1896 it was acquired from Feltus by Dr. Karl 
Vogelsang, who sent pieces of the iron and oxidized crust to Cohen. 
The meteorite afterwards passed into the possession of Dr. Krantz, 
mineral dealer, of Bonn, Germany, by whom, apparently, it was 
wholly or partly cut up. The weight given by Cohen as 75 kg. 
(165 lbs.) was taken after some loss by crumbling. The measure- 
ments are given as 40 cm. long, 30 cm. wide, and 15 cm. high. It 
exuded iron chloride and showed rapid decomposition into hydrous 
ferric oxide, in places forming nodules composed of concentric shells 
derived from the oxidation of troilite, a peculiarity attributed by 
Cohen to an original although invisible structure in that mineral. 
After storing in a room for five weeks at an equal temperature the 
exudation of iror> chloride ceased. All the analyses of the 
Beaconsfield meteorite were made by Mr. 0. Sjostrom. 
General Analysis : — 
Iron . . . . . . . . 92-56 
Nickel . . . . . . . . 7-34 
Cobalt . . . . . . . . 0 • 48 
Copper .. .. .. .. 0-02 
Carbon . . . . . . . . 0 • 05 
Phosphorus . . . . . . 0 ’ 26 
Chlorine . . . . . . . . 0 • 01 
Sulphur .. .. .. _ O’ 04 
100-76 
From this analysis the proportion of the mineral constituents in 
the piece examined is given as : — 
Nickel-iron . . . . . . . . 98 " 07 
Phosphor-nickel-iron . . . . 1 • 75 
Troilite . . . . . . o il 
Lawrencite . . . . . . 0 " 02 
Carbon . . . . . . 0 " 05 
The cohenite which occurs in the specimen could not be 
calculated, as the carbon probably only originates partly from it. 
[ 32 ] 
