IRON. 
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Mexico, near Toluca, masses of native iron are also 
found, scattered about the fields, which resemble 
those already described. 
3. An immense mass of native iron occurs on the 
borders of the Senegal in Africa, which the Moors 
are, however, obliged to forge before it can be used. 
4. In Bohemia a mass of malleable iron has been 
found like that which was discovered in Siberia, but 
the vitreous globules which it contains are more 
abundant, and quite opaque. 
5. A mass weighing about 17,000 pounds was dis- 
covered at Aken, near Magdeburg, under the pave- 
ment of the town, which, according to M. Chladni, 
has the qualities of steel, 
6. In the cabinet of Vienna there is preserved a 
specimen of this iron weighing about 70 pounds, 
which does not differ from any of the preceding. 
It is said to have fallen from the atmosphere in the 
year 1751, at Hraschina, near Agram in Croatia, 
and appeared in the air like a globe of fire. 
It seems difficult by any hypothesis to account 
for the appearance of these insulated masses in a 
satisfactory manner. The general opinion inclines 
to their having originated from those meteors in 
the form of globes of fire which so frequently occur 
in different parts of the world *, 
* The stones which have been deposited in the earth by meteors 
have been accurately investigated by Mr. Howard, and found to 
contain a considerable proportion of iron. On this account Mr. 
Sowerby has introduced them into his elegant British Mineralogy 
under the title of native iron. 
