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the south side, and the other thirty in a reversed direction on the opposite side. The affixed numbers are here inserted between brackets.

TABLE CASE 1. [60.] Organico-chemical minerals-Salts: Mellite or honey-stone, found in brown coal at Artern in Thuringia, (see Pictorial Atlas of Organic Remains, pl. I. fig. 2. ;) oxalate of iron; struvite; Resins: amber, of which there are beautiful specimens from Prussia and from the muschel-sandstone of Lemberg in Gallicia, many with insects and portions of vegetables; fossil copal from London Clay, Highgate; Retinasphalt, from Bovey; Idriolite. Bitumens: mineral pitch, asphalt and jet; Dapèche; Hatchettine; varieties of coal.

(1.) Meteorites.-In this case, and in a small table adjoining, are deposited a very rich collection of native iron and meteorolites. The origin of these substances is so mysterious, as to invest them with a high degree of interest, and I therefore subjoin from Mr. Konig's Synopsis, the following chronological list of those in the Museum whose history is authenticated.

Meteorites or aerolites, i.e. stones that fall from the higher regions of the atmosphere, appear to be unquestionably foreign to our planet, and there seems every reason to conclude that these substances originate from small cosmical bodies, having orbital motions through space, and which are occasionally drawn within the sphere of the earth's attraction. Baron Humboldt states that "their direction and enormous velocity of projection render it more than probable that these masses, enveloped in vapours, and reaching the earth in a high state of temperature, are small heavenly bodies which the attraction of our globe has caused to deviate from their previous path. The aspect of these aerolites, and the analogy to minerals contained in the crust of the earth, is very striking. They afford the only experimental knowledge we possess of any of the specific properties or qualities of matter not belonging to our own planet." Meteorites appear to have fallen in the earlier ages of our globe; Sir C. Lyell cites the discovery of a mass of native iron and nickel weighing seventeen pounds, in the auriferous alluvium of Altai, at a depth of thirty feet; and other instances are stated to have been observed in the Carpathian mountains.

2. Native Iron.-These masses consist of upwards of 90 per cent. of pure iron, with a small proportion of nickel, copper, cobalt, &c. Native iron, of undoubtedly terrestrial origin, is of very rare occurrence, almost all the insulated masses of this metal hitherto found having proved to be meteoric; and of these the following specimens are deposited nearly in the order of their discovery, or of the first mention made of them,

1847,' and will, if circumstances allow it, be hereafter adopted for the collection contained in the Table Cases; the present arrangement remaining nearly as we find it in the 4th ed. of Berzelius' work on the Use of the Blowpipe, published in 1824."-Mr. Konig's Synopsis.

A portion of the celebrated mass of iron of the descent of which, at Agram, in Croatia, on the 26th of May, 1751, detailed official accounts were drawn up by the authorities of that place, who presented it to the Roman Emperor, Francis I., and to the Empress Maria Theresa.

Fragment of the iron from the Upper Senegal, in Africa, discovered between the years 1760 and 1770.

A large piece detached from the celebrated mass of Siberian native iron, which was discovered in 1772, by Pallas, on the summit of a mountain between Abakansk and Belskoi Östrog, on the banks of the Jenisey, where it was considered by the Tartars as a sacred relic: the mass, which originally weighed about 1,680 pounds, is in the Museum of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.

Specimens of the native iron from Otumpa, in the Gran Chaco Gualamba, in South America, found, in 1783, by Don Rubin de Celis, who estimated the weight of the mass to be about 300 quintals, or 15 tons.

A large specimen of the Brazilian iron, found at the Bemdegó rivulet, Capitania of Bahia, in 1784, described in 1816.

Some of the Mexican meteoric iron supposed to be from that of Xiquipilco, first brought into notice in 1784.

A large piece (presented by John Parkinson, Esq.) of the iron of Zacatecas, Mexico, known time out of mind, but first described in 1792; and a small one of that found in the province of Durango, described by Baron Alexander von Humboldt (this has by some been confounded with that of the preceding locality).

Two pieces of the Cape meteoric iron, found in 1793, and first made known in Barrow's Travels in Southern Africa: the mass is now in the cabinet of Haarlem.

A portion of the mass, originally weighing upwards of 3,300 pounds, found at Bitburg, in the Eifel, N. of Treves, in 1805, but which, from ignorance, was committed to the smelting furnace.

A portion of the mass from Texas (Red River), found 1808, described

1845.

Three specimens of iron from Rasgata, N.E. of Santa Fé de Bogota, South America; found in 1810, and described about twenty-four years afterwards.

A piece from the large mass (originally weighing 191 pounds, of which upwards of two-thirds came to the Imperial Collection at Vienna) of the iron of Elbogen, near Carlsbad in Bohemia, where from time immemorial it had been known by the popular and legendary appellation of the Enchanted Burgrave (der verwünschte Burggraf); its meteoric origin ascertained in 1811.

Small portions of the meteoric iron from Texas, known to the scientific world since 1814.

Two specimens of the mass of iron found at Lenarto in Hungary, in 1814, one of which, being polished and treated with acid, exhibits the outlines of imperfect crystals.'

1 The delineations thus produced are known by the appellation of Widmannsted figures.

A mass of iron from Lockport, New York; found in 1818, described in 1845.

A specimen of the iron from Burlington, in the Otsego County, New York, found in 1819.

An Esquimaux knife and harpoon (from Davis's Straits, Lat. 76° 12′ N., Long. 53°) the iron of which is meteoric (mentioned in Capt. Ross's voyage, 1819, and presented by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty).

Small portions of the iron from Guildford County, North Carolina, discovered in 1820.

A mass of iron from the province of Atacama, republic of Bolivia, resembling that of Siberia, and, like it, containing much of an olivinelike substance within its cells; described in 1827, and presented by Sir Woodbine Parish.

A mass from the N.E. corner of Walker County, Alabama, found in 1832.

A specimen of the iron which was seen to fall, July 31st, 1835, in Dickson County, Tennessee.

A portion of that of Ashville, Buncombe County, N. Carolina, found and described in 1839.

A ponderous piece of iron from Crosby's Creek, in the S. W. part of Cocke County, Tennessee, found 1839 (with this is placed a mass of graphite found in it, weighing 830 grains).

A smaller piece from Greenville, Green County, Tennessee, found in 1842.

The greater part of the mass of iron found in the Sevier County, Tennessee, in 1840.

Three characteristic specimens, one containing much graphite, of the iron from Arva, in Hungary, discovered in 1843.

A polished piece of the iron found in the Otsego County, New York,

in 1845.

Mass of iron from Smithland, Livingston County, Kentucky, found in the same year.

A considerable portion of the mass of iron, weighing 280 pounds, found in the same year at Carthage, Smith County, Tennessee; as was that of Hommoney Creek, near the base of Pisgah Mountain, Buncombe County, North Carolina.

A portion of the iron ploughed up about seven miles from Chesterville, Chester County, S. Carolina, described 1849.

Another of that which was seen to fall at Braunau, in Bohemia, July 14th, 1847.

A portion of that found in the same year near Lake Læsgen, in Brandenburg.

Also, the greater portion of the mass discovered at the close of the same year near Murfreesboro', Rutherford County, Tennessee.

Of Meteoric stones, or Meteorites, (classed with native iron, because they all contain this metal, generally alloyed with nickel,) the following are placed in chronological order :

CASE 1*.-A large fragment of the stone which fell at Ensisheim, in

C

Alsace, Nov. 7th, 1492, when the Emperor Maximilian, then King of the Romans, was on the point of engaging with the French army; this mass, which weighed 270 pounds, was preserved in the cathedral of Ensisheim till the beginning of the French Revolution, when it was conveyed to the public library of Colmar.

Meteoric stone which fell at Reichstadt, in Bohemia, June 22d, 1723. One of the stones which fell, July 3d, 1753, at Plan, in the circle of Bechin, Bohemia, and which contains a great proportion of attractable iron.

Portion of a stone which fell at Maurkirchen, in Bavaria, Nov. 20th, 1768.

A meteorite which fell at Bobric, government of Charkow, Ucraine, Oct. 1st, 1787.

Specimens of those that were seen to fall at Barbotan, at Roquefort, and at Juliac, in the Landes of Gascony, July 24th, 1790.

One of a dozen stones, of various weights and dimensions, that fell at Sienna in Tuscany, June 16th, 1794.

The meteoric stone, weighing 56 pounds, which fell near Wold Cottage, in the parish of Thwing, East Riding, Yorkshire, Dec. 13th, 1795. Fragment of a stone of 20 pounds, which fell in the commune of Sales, near Villefranche, in the department of the Rhône, March 12th, 1798. Specimens of stones that fell near the city of Benares, in the East Indies, Dec. 19th, 1798; presented by Sir Joseph Banks and W. Marsden, Esq. Entire and broken specimens of the meteoric stones of which a shower was seen to descend at Aigle, in the department of the Orne, April 26th, 1803.

Meteorite which fell at Possil, near Glasgow, April 5th, 1804.

Fragment of that which fell, June 27th, 1807, near Timochin, Smolensk, Russia.

Fragment of one of those that were seen to fall at Weston, in Connecticut, Dec. 14th, 1807.

Fragment of one of several meteorites that fell, April 19th, 1808, at Casignano, near Borgo St. Domino, in the Duchy of Parma.

Two of the meteorites with shining black surfaces, fallen, May 22d, 1808, at Stannern, in Moravia; one of them presented by H.I.M. the Emperor of Austria.

Two fragments of the Tipperary meteorite which fell in August, 1810; it contains quartz globules of a green colour, owing to oxide of nickel. A fragment from one of those of Berlanguillas, in Catalonia, July 8th, 1811.

A fragment of one weighing 66 pounds, which fell, August 5th, 1812, near Chantonnay, between Nantes and La Rochelle, Department of the Vendée.

Fragment of the meteoric stone which fell at Adare, in the county of Limerick, Ireland, September 10th, 1813.

Fragment of the stone which fell, in March 1814, in the vicinity of Wiburg, in Russian Finland.

Fragment of one of those which fell, Sept. 5th. 1814, at Agen, in the Pyrenees.

A portion of the meteorite of Chassigny, near Langres, Dep. of the Upper Marne, which fell on the 3d of October, 1815.

One of those that descended at Jonsac, in the Department of the Lower Charente, the 13th of June, 1819.

Fragment of the largest of those that fell at Juvénas, Dep. of the Ardèche, 15th of June, 1821.

A portion of the meteorite which descended at Nanjenoy, in Maryland, February 10th, 1825, formerly in the possession of the Author, to whom it was presented by Professor Silliman.

Fragment of one of the meteorites which fell, May 9th, 1827, at Drake's Creek, Nashville, Tennessee.

Another of that of Richmond, Chesterfield County, Virginia, observed to fall June 4th, 1828.

Another which was seen to fall at Aldsworth, 12 miles E. of Cirencester, August 4th, 1835.

A meteorite, weighing about four pounds, which fell at the village of Akburpoor, in the district of Saharanpore, April 18th, 1838; presented by Major Cautley, Bengal Artillery.

A fragment detached from one of the three stones which, on June 6th, 1838, simultaneously fell at three villages, about a mile distant from each other, in the valley of Berar (situated Lat. 21° N., Long. 77° 20' E.), in the East Indies.

Two of those that were seen to fall, October 13th of the same year, at Old Bokkeveld, at the Cape of Good Hope; the larger presented by Sir John Herschel, Bart., the smaller by E. Charlesworth, Esq.

A fragment of that which fell at Little Piney, Missouri, February 13th, 1839.

Two large portions of the stone that fell, June 12th, 1841, at Triguerre, Canton of Chateau-Rénard, Department of the Loire.

A large fragment of the remarkable meteoric stone that fell at Bishopville, S. Carolina, in March, 1846, and another of that which descended February 25th, 1847, near Marion, in Linn County, State of Iowa, North America, and of which an account has been published in a late number of Silliman's American Journal.-Mr. Konig's Synopsis.

3. [59.]-Contains the chlorides : viz. chloride of sodium, ammonium, lead, copper, silver, mercury, &c.

4. [2.] Native silver, of which there are some very rich and beautiful forms; native mercury, platinum, &c.; palladium and osmiridium in a wrought state; irite from the Ural Mountains.

5. [58.] Fluorides; fluor spar; chlorophane; fluoride of calcium, yttrium, and cerium.

[58 A.] Silicates containing fluorine. Saxon, Brazilian, and Siberian topazes, some imbedded in rock crystal; pyrophysalite from Fahlun in Sweden; choridrodite from New Jersey.

6. [3.] Native gold, pure and alloyed; electrum from Schlangenberg in Siberia.

"In this case (continued to case 12 of the minor notation) begin the electro-negative metallic substances called metalloids, and their nonoxidized combinations."-Mr. Konig's Synopsis.

Tellurium and tellurets; native antimony; antimonial silver.

7. [57.] Various phosphates. Phosphate of iron, manganese, copper,

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