Peculiar Form of Metallic Iron. — Hoffman. 109 
mentioned in connection witli those of accepted telluric origin^ 
are, in consideration of their having been shown to be nickelifer- 
ous, referred to b}' some authorities as most probably' of meteoric 
origin. It will be remembered, however, that the native iron of 
Ovifak, Disco Ba}', Greenland, which was at first regarded b}- the 
discoverer, Xordenskiijld, and others as meteoric iron, also con- 
tains a certain amount of nickel, 3et the observations of Steen- 
strup, Tornebohm and Smith, make it verj- certain that the iron is 
not meteoric but of terrestrial origin, in which case the presence 
of nickel in an iron would not have the same significance as it was 
formerly supposed to have. 
Assuming, therefore, that the trifling amount of nickel present 
in this iron would not necessaril}" ii^pl y a cosmic origin, the rela- 
tively large amount of phosphorus accompanying the nickel, the 
presence of organic matter^ and the fact of the spherules contain- 
ing nuclei, apparently of a concretionary character, would suggest 
the possibility of this iron having a ten-estrial source, upon the 
assum])tion that it has resulted from the I'eduction of an iron-salt 
by organic matter, in which case it would have a community of 
origin with the sideroferrite- of Bahr. 
I am indebted to my friend Dr. A. P. Coleman for the skill- 
fully executed water-colour sketches from which the accompany- 
ing plate has been prepared. These will serve to conve}' a far 
more accurate idea of the material under consideration than any 
mere verbal description of the same possibly could. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE. 
Fig. 1. Shows mode of occurrence of the material in the rock — 
Natural size. 
Fig 2. Illustrates two of the most prominent forms of the me- 
tallic spherules — Magnified 85 diameters. 
*Such as the iron found by Andrews in basaltic rocks from the 
Giant's Causeway, and that found by Mossier in lava from Graveneire 
in Auvergne. 
iThe presence of organic matter of the nature (humus-like) of that 
heie referred to would not appear to bo inconsistent with an extra-ter- 
restrial origin. The meteorite of Alais contained a ciirbonaceous mat- 
ter which Berzelius considered might not improbably be humus. Woh- 
ler found the carbonaceous matter of the Kold-Bokeveldt and Kaba 
meteorites to consist of a mixture of amorphous carbon and bituminous 
matters, described as not unlike Scheererite or Ozocerite. Cloez again, 
found the carbonaceous matter of the Orgueil meteorite to resemble, 
both in appearance and composition, certain humus substances. 
^A native iron found by I'.ahr, in the form of srrains, thin laminae 
and powder, in a fragment of mineralized wood — resemblinir bog-iron- 
ore in appearance — from a lloating island in the Ranlanger Lake in 
Smaland, Sweden. 
