Meteorites and What they Teach us. — Ile^isoldt- 75 
XV. p. 498) writes : "These facts clearly indicate that the Wid- 
manstiitt's figuring is the result of such a complete separation 
of the constituents, and perfect crystallization, as can only 
occur when the process takes place slowly and gradually. 
They appear to me to show that meteoric iron was kept for a 
long time at a heat just below the point of fusion, and that we 
should be by no means justified in concluding that it was not 
previously melted. Similar principles are applicable in the 
case of the iron masses found in Disco ; and it by no means 
follows that they are meteoric, because they show the Widman- 
stiitt's figuring." 
Now these Greenland iron masses were discovered by Nor- 
denskjcild in August 1870. It had been known for a long time 
that the Esquimaux were in possession of knives and hatchets 
which they had themselves made from iron, which seemed to 
be meteoric, as it exhibited the "Widmanstiittian lines. These 
implements were found in such abundance among the inhabi- 
tants of the southwestern coast of Greenland as to induce the 
belief that their supply of the raw material must be very con- 
siderable, but nothing could induce the natives to reveal the 
locality. In 1870 Nordenskjftld succeeded in clearing up the 
mystery and from information which he obtained at Upernavik 
he procured guides and proceeded to the island of Disco, a lit- 
tle to the south, under Lat. 69° 19/, where he found what he 
believed to be the largest meteorite ever discovered. It was 
an iron-mass about six feet long and nearly as broad, weighing 
no less than 42,000 pounds. Within a few yards from it lay 
another, weighing 16,000 pounds, and four or five more of les- 
ser weight, but the entire sea-shore was also strewn with iron 
pebbles, varying from the size of a sand-grain to that of a 
cocoa-nut. Most of the larger masses presented the usual 
features of meteoric irons, in their outward appearance as well 
as their chemical constitution, for it was found that they con- 
sisted of iron alloyed with nickel and cobalt. Small wonder 
therefore that Nordenskjold and even Tschermak for a long 
time persistently adhered to the opinion that they were of cos- 
mic origin. But a careful examination of the locality by 
Steenstrup, who visited Disco in the Spring of the following 
year (1871), revealed the startling fact that these irons are, 
without exception, terrestrial, and have been weathered out of 
