THEORY OF METEORITIC AGGLOMERATION AND THE ULTI- 
MATE SOURCE OF THE ORES. 
BY CHARLES R. KEYES. 
At the present time unusual interest is taken by mining men in the 
subject of the origin of the deposits of the metallic ores, the extent of the 
world’s supply, and the means of conserving them, for alarming as it 
may seem the end is already in sight. 
Localization of ore-materials, or their formation into workable ore- 
bodies is now generally ascribed to the agency of waters circulating in 
accordance with well established geological laAvs and under peculiar geo- 
logic conditions. The circulatory currents may move through the deeper 
zones of the lithosphere below groundwater level, through the upper or 
vadose zone, or on the surface of the ground. In each zone there is a 
distinctive series of mineral concentrations. 
The ultimate source of ore materials has been heretofore usually con- 
sidered on the theory of a cooling terrestrial globe, according to the 
scheme imposed by the nebular hypothesis. The metals are thus assumed 
to reach the surface of the earth from a heated and perhaps metallic in- 
terior. There is another possible derivation of the metallic materials of 
the ores. Although the hypothesis has received since its proposal the sup- 
port of distinguished authorities, from ore students it has not attracted 
the attention that it seems to deserve. 
On the hypothesis of the origin of the planetary and stellar bodies 
through meteoritic agglomeration, as proposed by Meyer,^^ metallic sub- 
stances in a fine state of division must be constantly falling upon the 
earth’s surface. That portion of the stellar dust which falls upon the 
land areas mingles immediately, almost unnoticed, with the soil; and 
finally enters into the rocks which some geologists consider as the flotsam 
riding upon the heavy centrosphere. That part which falls into the sea 
goes to form the characteristic bottom-muds of the ocean. Whether fall- 
ing on land or water the stellar-dust particles, on account of their high 
specific gravity and their prevailingly metallic nature, tend sooner or 
later to sink deeper and deeper beneath the lighter rock material on 
^Beitrage zur Mechanik des Himmels, p. 157, 1848. 
