121 
On several Masses of Iron found in the Andes. 
hill, and in the neighbourhood of Santa Rosa, in various direc- 
tions. It seems they are scattered about abundantly, as, during 
our short stay there, we fell in with a considerable number of 
them. To convince ourselves of the identity of this iron, with 
such as other travellers describe, we had but to examine it che- 
mically, and the following are the details of our analysis. 
Analysis of the mass of' Iron weighing 75 myriogrammes . 
1.28 grains were dissolved in nitric acid. The solution was 
rapid, and left but a small residue, evaporated almost to dry- 
ness, so as to oxidise the iron ; water was added afterwards, to 
precipitate it with ammonia ; and the precipitated oxide of iron 
was separated, filtered, and washed in hot water. The ammo- 
nial liquor was sufficiently tinged with green and azure colours. 
With the prussiate of potash it precipitates abundantly, and is 
of a white slightly greenish colour, indicating the ammonia to 
have been coloured by nickel, and not by copper. To this so- 
lution of ammonia, after half its quantity was evaporated, caus- 
tic potash was added, and, to make certain of the entire decom- 
position of the double salts of ammonia and nickel, the evapora- 
tion was carried on to dryness ; to the residue, water was added ; 
and the oxide of nickel procured, after being washed and cal- 
cined, weighed 0.14. To find the nickel that might have re- 
mained with the oxide of iron, precipitated by the nitric solu- 
tion, this oxide, still moist, was dissolved in the pyro-Iigneous 
acid ; the solution was evaporated, and the residue, tried with 
the proper cautions, was filtered, and to the filtered liquor car- 
bonate of potash was added, forming a precipitate slightly white ; 
it was boiled, and calcined, weighing 0.01, and proved to be oxide 
of nickel. No traces of cobalt or manganese could be discovered 
in the smallest possible quantity ; and the results were, oxide of 
iron, 1.17; oxide of nickel, 0.15. 
100 parts gave. Iron, 91.51 
■ Nickel, 8.59 
We proceeded in the same manner with the other specimens, 
and give herewith the results. And first, of the mass, weighing 
681 grammes (gramos), found in 1810 near Santa Rosa. This 
