III.—A Chapter in the History of Meteorites

Abstract

Greg, and likewise Heddle, found cavities in certain portions of this iron, some of the size of a pea, which are filled with metallic lead; this is the only instance where that element has been met with in a meteorite. Dr. Lawrence Smith has recently examined several specimens cut from the original mass, and is of opinion that the lead is altogether foreign to the iron, being doubtless derived from material with which the block was probably treated by the original discoverers for the purpose of extracting some noble metal from it. The lead, he finds, occurs only in cavities near the surface of the mass, which have channels of more or less size leading to the surface. In pieces of the iron detached from the interior of the block and free from fissures no lead could be discovered.