ably contains in its interior parts, a small portion of chlorine, which has escaped from its surface, and hence only the deep section of the mass, gave evidence of its presence.

The frequent chemical examinations, by able investigators, of meteoric masses, have shown that their mode of combination is frequently peculiar, but so far no new elements in addition to those before known, have rewarded the search. Although our ideas of the unity and simplicity of cosmical laws are thus enlarged, we are not yet warranted in the conclusion that the matter of meteors is in all respects the same as that of our earth. From the fact that almost yearly additions are made to our list of elements, in minerals brought from parts of the earth long known and seemingly well investigated; may we not hope that these celestial visitors may yet present us from the distant regions of space, with some element before unknown? Perhaps an obscure affirmative answer is given to this question, by a fact noticed in this paper as observed in the Texas iron. Thus far our search has been far too limited to authorize us in asserting from the negative evidence obtained, that new elements do not exist in meteors. The attention of chemists has been too generally confined to the detection of a few bodies, which are already recognized as ingredients of meteoric masses, and no substance has for a long time been added to that list.

We have spent some time in the examination of various meteoric irons and stones, and although we have little that is new to present, our researches have not been without interest as showing the great general similarity in composition, which characterizes this remarkable class of bodies. We present now only the results obtained on the Texas and Lockport irons.

Examination of the Texas Iron.

When this iron is dissolved in hydrochloric acid (A) a very small amount of insoluble matter remains, being only about 5 per centum. This residue is a black powder, (B) interspersed with some scales of a leaden gray and containing numerous brilliant metallic plates of a silvery whiteness. It is almost entirely magnetic iron, the brilliant scales being either metallic nickel or an alloy of iron with a large portion of nickel.

The hydrochloric solution (A) afforded no precipitate when treated with sulphuretted hydrogen; and the iron being thrown down from a portion of it by ammonia, the filtrate was examined in vain for cobalt, manganese and zinc.

The insoluble black powder (B), when digested in aqua regia, was partly dissolved, while another portion remained, consisting of flakes of graphite, or at least of a very incombustible carbon containing a little iron. Sulphuretted hydrogen passed through the solution gave a yellowish brown precipitate, which was dissolved by hydrosulphuret of ammonia (C), leaving only a trace of sulphuret of copper. The soluble portion (C) was precipitated by acetic acid, and its color appeared to be orange, but was somewhat obscured by free sulphur. The results obtained from its examination were anomalous and rather unsatisfactory. It fused with nitre and carbonate of soda, forming a mass which was soluble in water without residue, and whose solution nitric acid did not sensibly affect. Treated with nitrate of silver and a dilute solution of ammonia, with reference to the detection of arsenic acid, it gave a white precipitate in place of the red-brown of the arseniate of silver. A part of the solution was treated with acetate of lead, and the precipitate obtained, when reduced before the blowpipe, gave a globule of lead, which at a red heat evolved white inodorous fumes resembling antimony. A want of sufficient material prevented any further examination, and the question of its true nature is consequently yet unsettled. Antimonic acid is precipitated from its salts by any strong acid, which was not the reaction of the substance under examination. If not antimony, it is probably a new body hitherto unexamined, although such a conclusion requires further evidence to warrant its correctness. The analysis of 100 parts of this residue (B) gave

The iron in (B) is doubtless in the state of magnetic oxyd, and

as such would make up the deficiency in this analysis.

The proportion of nickel and iron in the Texas meteorite seems to vary. The mean of several analyses gives us

The nickeliferous iron, or that part of the mass most rich in nickel, seems to have been segregated from the general mass, and forms the elevated lines of brilliant whiteness which appear on etching a polished surface of the metal.

Examination of the Lockport Iron.

The history of this mass was given in this Journal, 1st Series, xlviii, 390, and also a preliminary analysis by the late D. Olmsted, Jr. For the sake of comparison, we again introduce the figure, showing its crystalline structure, and the white and yellow pyrites which it contains.

A quantity of this iron in small fragments was dissolved in hydrochloric acid, with the aid of a gentle heat; the solution was easily and rapidly effected, and the gas given off, being passed through a solution of acetate of lead, was found to con

tain some sulphureted hydrogen, arising from the solution of the pyrites with which the mass is impregnated. A small insoluble residue remained in the solution, which was digested with a fresh portion of dilute acid without any effect. It was then collected and dried; it was partly light and flocculent, but the larger portion of it consisted of blackish gray scales, nearly all of which was attracted by the magnet. This insoluble residue makes up 1.4 per centum of the entire mass of the iron.

It dissolved in aqua regia, leaving a small amount of finely divided chestnut brown matter, so intimately suspended in the solution that it did not subside in twelve hours, but still gave a brown tint to the liquid. When ignited, it glowed for a moment and left a light reddish ash. It dissolved with effervescence in pure fused carbonate of soda and the mass treated with water, gave flocculi of silicic acid. These characters show the reddish brown matter to have been either silica with a trace of carbon, or silicon, which last Prof. Shepard has already shown to exist, in the Oswego iron.*

Hydrosulphuret of ammonium, threw down the metals from the solution in aqua regia, and the filtrate from this was found to contain phosphoric acid. The metallic sulphurets consisted solely of iron and nickel. A careful examination failed to detect either cobalt, manganese, or any other metal.

The original hydrochloric solution gave with sulphureted hydrogen, a small precipitate, of which a part was taken up by alkaline sulphurets and the residue consisted only of copper. The soluble part was too small to obtain from it definite reactions. It was probably arsenic.

One hundred parts of this insoluble residue gave

The considerable deficiency in this result is probably due to the fact that the iron occurs in the compound, as magnetic oxyd, which is here estimated as metallic iron. The quantity of

* See this Journal, First Ser., vol. xl, p. 366.

phosphorus is very little more than is required to form a phosphuret with the nickel (Ni,P), or with about half of the iron, and it is certainly difficult to conceive of the iron as retaining its magnetic condition, and resisting the action of hydrochloric acid, unless we suppose it to be in the state of magnetic oxyd. We may present the following as the constitution of the entire

We have as yet no researches on the composition of the pyrites contained in these irons, which if we can obtain a sufficient quantity of the material, will be discussed on a future occasion.

It will be seen that we have not noticed the existence of cobalt in either of these masses, and as it has generally been spoken of, as a pretty constant ingredient in meteoric iron, it will be well to state the manner in which the examination for this metal was conducted. The iron was separated from the hydrochloric solution, previously peroxydized, either by an alkaline succinate, or as a basic salt by the process of Scherer; the metals still in solution were then precipitated as sulphurets. From the solution of these rendered ammoniacal, the nickel was thrown down by caustic potash, agreeably to the directions of Phillips, when hydrosulphuret of ammonium gave no precipitate in the filtrate, even after standing one or two hours. A similar mode of proceeding with both of the hydrochloric solutions, and those of the residue insoluble in that acid, gave the same results, and was supposed to prove the absence of cobalt. The oxyds of nickel and iron thus obtained, when examined by the blowpipe, gave no evidence of this metal.

Yale College Laboratory, July 27, 1846.