Meteorites. — WincheU-Dodgc. 311 
distribution of the metallic iron with respect to the other min- 
erals, and its comparative amount. 
Metallic iron comprises somewhat less than one-half of the 
entire surface, as cut, and it serves as a matrix in which are 
embraced amygdaloidal or roundish masses from the size of a 
pea to that of a musket-ball, and larger, of the black and yel- 
lowish minerals which comprise nearly the whole of the rest 
of the mass. The iron frame-work of the whole mass is not 
regularly cellular, but with many partings and tortuous shapes 
it fits closely about the concavities in which the minerals lie 
and gives firmness and shape to the whole. 
The two most conspicuous minerals, or the two contrasted 
conditions of the same mineral, are readily distinguished at a 
glance, particularly on the fresh interior. When they are asso- 
ciated in a fragment from the rusted exterior they approach 
each other in general aspect, both being rusty brown. One is 
opaque black, with a shining, anthracitic lustre, and a brittle, 
angular non-laminate fracture. This lies near the iron more 
frequently than the other, and is most abundant about the 
edge of the slab, and in those areas where no metallic iron ex- 
ists. 
The other evident mineral, may be only the unoxidized and 
unstained condition of the foregoing. It has alight-yellowish 
color, or beeswax appearance. When broken it appears glassy 
and when crushed its powder is nearly white. It shows but 
rarely any cleavage direction but fractures irregularly and eas- 
ily and even crumbles under pressure as if coarsely granular. 
Its hardness is about 6^, which is also that of the foregoing. 
There is, moreover, much more sparse, another mineral. This 
is light brassy in color, and its hardness is not more than 4. 
It is also attractable by a magnet when powdered, and on be- 
ing crushed its powder is black, or nearly black. Lining the 
cavities within the iron, and enclosing the other minerals, 
particularly when they consist of the brassy or the opaque- 
black mineral above is another black mineral. This gives the 
concavities within the iron matrix a botryoidal and specular 
reflection. Its hardness is about 3 or o^, mashing down under 
a steel point somewhat like graphite, but it is, in fine powder 
lifted by the magnet. When unbroken and fresh it presents a 
silvery metallic lustre. 
Some chemical examination has been made, but the final 
