15. Geological Survey of Missouri-First and Second Annual Reports; by G. C. SWALLOW, State Geologist. 204 and 240 pp., 8vo, with many plates and sections.-This volume is an important publication on the geology of the West, although the work of but eighteen months' exploration. The state of Missouri is nearly one-half larger than New York, and a complete account of its geology cannot be expected for many years. It is to be hoped that the survey may be carried to its full completion. The value of such researches to the science depend on exactness of detail and a thorough exhibition of the palæontology. The survey is developing the mineral resources of the state, bringing to light its wealth in iron, coal, lead, and other metals, in marble, building stone, materials for cements and other important purposes of the arts. The volume contains, 1st, the Report of Mr. Swallow, 207 pages; 2d, the Reports of Dr. Litton, Mr. Meek, Mr. Haven and Dr. B. F. Shumard, Assistants, the last also Palæontologist. Besides the other plates, there are three plates of fossils.

16. The Year-Book of Agriculture, or the Annual of Agricultural Progress and Discovery for 1855 and '56, exhibiting the most important discoveries and improvements in Agricultural Mechanics, Chemistry, Botany, Geology, Zoology, etc., together with Statistics of American Growth and Productions, a list of recent agricultural publications, classified tables of American Agricultural Patents for 1854 and '55, a catalogue of fruits, adapted to the different sections the country, with a comprehensive Review by the editor of the Progress of American and Foreign Agriculture for the year 1855; illustrated with numerous engravings; by DAVID A. WELLS, A.M. 400 pp. 8vo. Philadelphia: Childs and Peterson.-This volume contains much valuable information, and is calculated to disseminate agricultural knowledge through the country. The book is of a popular character, and does not enter profoundly into the chemistry of agriculture, while at the same time devoting many pages to facts in that line.

17. Esquisse Géologique du Canada, pour servir à l'intelligence de la carte géologique et de la collection des Minéraux économiques envoyées à l'Exposition Universelle de Paris, 1855; by W. E. LOGAN, Meinber of the Royal Society of London, etc., and T. STERRY HUNT, Member of the Geological Society of France, &c. 100 pp., 12mo. 1855. Paris: H. Bossange et Fils.-This volume on the geology of Canada, by Messrs. Logan and Hunt, is intended as explanatory of a geological chart of Canada now in course of publication at Paris, and of the Canada geological collections at the Paris Crystal Palace. The government of Canada with great liberality have sent a full and most interesting representation of the mineral and other products of the country to the Paris exhibition, and Mr. Logan and Mr. Hunt are in Paris in connection with the Canada commission. The progress of the Geological survey of Canada has always been viewed with great interest in this country and abroad, and with much satisfaction that it is in the hands of those so able and so determined to make it a thorough survey. The work though brief, gives an excellent outline of the geological features and formations. The map, we have reason to believe, will be a fine one, in style much in advance of the geological maps of this continent hitherto published.

OBITUARY.

Dr. T. Romeyn Beck.-We are pained to announce the death of Dr. T. ROMEYN BECK, which occurred at Albany, N. Y., November 19, 1855. He was born in Schenectady, N. Y., Aug. 11, 1791, and graduated at Union College in 1807. He studied medicine, and in 1815 he was appointed Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Western New York. In 1817 he was appointed Principal of the Albany Academy, which place he held at the time of his death. He was also for many years Secretary of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York. He was distinguished for his cultivation of the liberal sciences, but is most widely known by his valuable treatise on Medical Jurisprudence, a work which has passed through four editions in America, and four in England, and has been translated into the German.

STRAY LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE: by M. Schele de Vere, of the University of Virginia. 291 pp., 12mo. New York: G. P. Putnam & Co. J. W. DAWSON: Acadian Geology. An account of the Geological Structure and Mineral Resources of Nova Scotia, and portions of the neighboring Provinces of British America. Small 8vo. 1855. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

W. S. SYMONDS: Old Stones; Notes of Lectures on the Plutonic, Silurian and Devonian Rocks in the neighborhood of Malvern. 12mo. Malvern, 1855.

AMEDÉE BURAT: Geologie appliquée: Traité du gisement et de l'exploitation des minéraux utiles. 3d edition, 2 vols. Paris.

PICTET: Traité de Paléontologie, 2d edition. Third volume, with plates in 4to. Paris: Bailliere. One more volume completes the work.

REPORT OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH MEETING of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Liverpool in September, 1854. London. 440 and 190 pages, 8vo.-326 pages of this volume are occupied by the Third Report on the facts of Earthquake Phenomena, by Robert Mallet.

BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. Vol. V. OCTOBER.-P. 226, Laterite in India; F. Mason.-p. 228, Descriptions of new freshwater shells, (species of Unio, Anodon, Cyclas); A. A. Gould.-p. 231, Note on the Improvement of Sycamores. -p. 232, On different kinds of steel; C. T. Jackson.-p. 224, Notes on an Opate Indian; Kneeland.-p. 238, Fossil bones of the Connecticut valley; J. Wyman.-NoVEMBER. p. 242, Notes on the Geology of parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; C. T. Jackson.-p. 250, On the existence of native iron in a malleable state in Liberia, Africa; A. A. Hayes-p. 253, On rain-drops; J. Wyman.

PROCEEDINGS ACAD. NAT. SCI. PHILADELPHIA. Vol. VII, No. X.-p. 385, Descriptions of new marine Invertebrata from the Pacific and Japan seas; W. Stimpson.p. 395, Indications of 12 species of Fossil Fishes (Cretaceous and Eocene); J. Leidy. No. XI. p. 400, On new species of Astacus from Georgia; J. Le Conte.-p. 402, On a new Gelasimus; J. Le Conte.-Remarks on two species of American Cimex; J. LeConte. p. 405, On Artificially formed Skulls from the Ancient World; Prof. A. Retzius. p. 410, Catalogue of Marine Alge, discovered at Beesley's Point during the past summer, with some remarks thereon; S. Ashmead-p. 414, Indications of five species with two new genera of extinct Fishes; J. Leidy.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACAD. OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, BOSTON, Vol. III. p. 107, On the Natural Coke of Virginia; W. B. Rogers.-p. 109, On the value of the different kinds of prepared Vegetable food; J. Dean.-p. 127, Characters of new genera of Plants, mostly from Polynesia, in the collection of the U. S. Exploring Expedition; A. Gray-p. 166, Observations on the first appearance of a circulating system in the higher animals; L. Agassiz.-p. 178, On the Cochituate water; A. A. Hayes.— p. 178, ibid, Dr. Bacon.-p. 181, New Mosses collected by U. S. Expl. Expedition;

W. S. Sullivant.

THE

AMERICAN

JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS.

[SECOND SERIES.]

ART. XVIII.-On a Specimen of Native Iron from Liberia, Africa; by Dr. A. A. HAYES.

[Read at a meeting of the American Academy, Boston, August, 1855.]

It is with pleasure that I submit to the inspection of the Academy, a specimen of Native Iron from Liberia, believed to have been taken from the tract of country bordering the St. John's River, recently acquired by the New Jersey Colony. This specimen was placed in my hands by Rev. Joseph Tracy, Secretary of the Massachusetts Colonization Society, for examination; and its physical characters at once arrested my attention as differing from those of any artificially produced iron. As I deem the discovery of native iron, existing unalloyed, a matter of much interest to naturalists and chemists, it is proper that the evidence on which the statement rests, should be submitted somewhat in detail. In the African Repository, vol. xxx, No. 8, August, 1854, at p. 240, is a letter from Rev. Aaron P. Davis, a resident missionary at Bassa Cove, from which the following extracts are taken: "I send you a piece of African ore just as dug from its native bed, or broken from among rocks. I have seen and conversed with a number of natives, who affirm that it is actually the pure ore, or just as taken from its native bed. I obtained a piece through Hou. Geo. L. Seymour, who had tried in vain to dissect it and I being of that craft, he brought it to my shop for that purpose. When he brought it, it appeared like a craggy rock, of yellowish color on its surface, and with a very small exception SECOND SERIES, Vol. XXI, No. 62-March, 1856.

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it could not be separated but by heat, and hard pounding with my largest sledge hammer, and a chisel prepared for the purpose. I also send you a tea spoon, which I made from some of the ore, which in its crude state is superior to the iron brought here for sale by English merchant vessels. I am told by the natives that it is plentiful, and about three days' walk from our present place of residence, (Bassa Cove,) it is gotten by digging and breaking rocks. It is also said to be in large lumps. In these parts the natives buy no iron, but dig it out of the ground, or break the rocks and get it, as the case may be."

The larger specimen before you, when received by me, bore on one side the impress of the chisel, the coarse fracturing of a tough metal, and marks of oxydation by fire. It was further identified by Wm. Coppinger, Es, of Philadelphia, as the piece received with the letter of Mr. Davis. Mr. Coppinger gave the specimen to Rev. H. M. Blodgett, who sent it to Rev. Joseph Tracy, from whose hands I received it. Soon after I had expressed to Mr. Tracy my belief that the specimen was native iron, he placed before me a large amount of written evidence, showing that malleable iron, sufficient in quantity to meet the wants of the natives, is obtained by heating, and thereby fracturing the rocks of the country. The writers use the term ore incorrectly, as Mr. Davis does, apparently in the belief that iron ores increasing in richness become malleable. The metallurgical knowledge of the natives is so limited that they are unable to produce copper from the carbonate of copper, (Malachite,) which they carry five or six hundred miles, as a medium of traffic; while their weapons of iron which I have examined, show the characters of native iron after it has been heated and hanımered.

Physical Characters.—On developing the internal structure of the mass of iron, by immersion for a few moments in strong uitric acid, and immediately after washing in a mixture of lime and water, it was apparent that the minute crystalline particles were arranged in a manner closely resembling those of the pure iron in meteoric masses, and entirely unlike the particles in artificial iron.*

*The character which is here noted has a higher value in a research of this kind, than would have been inferred from a cursory examination. In a description of the remarkable meteoric iron published in this Journal, (Nov. 1844,) I alluded to the fact, that these masses are not made up of iron alloyed with nickel and other metals, but consist of pure iron through which are mixed portions of an alloy of nickel and iron and iron and nickel, and other bodies as distinct electro-negative matter in relation to the pure iron. The Texas meteoric mass, and the small particles of the Weston meteorolite had the same mechanical constitution. Since the first publication of my results, these researches have been extended so as to include the metals of commerce and the well known alloys. The numerous analyses made on these forms of matter have not yet shown an exception to the condition, that, the metal existing in the largest proportion is in part pure, while one, two, three or more alloys may exist, distributed through it. When we take the results on a mass of crude iron in the state of pig-iron, and on portions of the less, and more malleable iron of the different steps of the manufacture, we not only pursue the constituents chemically, but

Where the mass had been heated and had received blows, there was an approach to the appearance presented by artificial iron; but the internal parts and nearly the whole of the mass showed no marks of percussive, or laminating action. By the more complete development of the structure, certain points appeared which were evidently extraneons matter. Under the microscope these points showed crystalline minerals, which when separated proved to be quartz and octahedral oxyd of iron. A mineral with a lime and soda base, was also found. The iron was most readily acted on by chemical agents, where it was in contact with these minerals. Exposure of a surface to the action of an acid, not only brought the mineral particles to view, but produced cavities at the points where they existed, showing degrees of porosity influenced by their number.

The specific gravity of the most compact portion was 6-708. Its color lighter gray than any sample of artificial ductile iron I have seen. Repeated bending back upon itself, did not separate one fragment, but generally flaws appear, and thin portions break when doubled close. The presence of the minerals imbedded is felt when we file or saw the metal, but when heated and hammered these fuse into slags and the metal spreads and draws off like the best irous, yet showing the cavities and flaws, where the simple minerals had existed.

Chemical Characters.-It dissolves with effervescence in diluted hydrochloric acid, and if the acid and water are perfectly pure, the evolved gas has no odor. 200 grains dissolved in hydrochloric acid, the hydrogen gas was passed through pure alcocol kept cool, and was then allowed to bubble through an ammoniacal solution of nitrate of silver. The alcohol had not acquired odor, nor was there any coloration or change in the silver solution. The solution of iron was turbid, but soon deposited suspended matter, which was light gray colored, some heavy white

the mechanical state of the iron is at the same time open to view. A mass of pig iron thus becomes associated with meteoric iron in the mechanical arrangement of its parts, and generally consists of perfectly pure and malleable iron, disturbed in the arrangement of its crystalline particles, by the interposition among them of a compound of iron and carbon, and of graphitic carbon; besides sulphids, phosphids, and arsenids of the alkaline metals. In the ductile iron these bodies have been nearly all removed by heat and mechanical operations, and new features impressed upon the metal. By simply removing the interposed foreign matter by chemical means solely, crude iron is left malleable, and its particles then show their suberystalline forms, but not as they exist in the pure iron of the more perfect meteoric masses. All manufactured iron presents them arranged in lines, and interlaced by the action of the haminier, or extended in bundles in the act of drawing: while the laminating mill breaks them down, shingling them over, and felting together their serrated edges, in striking analogy of effect, to the operations of textile manufacturing. The mechanical texture of a mass of iron cannot be shown fully by the simple step of immersion as above given, but this is sufficient to enable one to observe whether the crystals have arranged themselves as aggregates, or been broken up and disturbed by violence; and often will serve to show the kind of mechanical action employed