A portion of the refined oil, treated in the same way, gave the formula €15H2002, viz:

Further investigation will show whether this difference is purely accidental, and there is good reason to believe it to be so; or whether there is really a difference in the composition of the two products.

The gases formed during the distillation of the rosin burn with a bright light and may be used for illumination. I have analyzed a portion of these gases, collected in glass tubes which were sealed up with the blowpipe, in the gas-room of Prof. Bunsen. They contain 14.96 p. c. carbonic acid, 11:45 p. c. of oxyd of carbon, 5.89 p. c. ethylene and butylene (ditetryl), besides oxygenated nitrogen very nearly in the proportion of 1:6. Towards the close of the distillation the oxygen nearly disappeared, and a portion of light carburetted hydrogen made its appearance.

I have to remark that it must be left undecided whether there may not be an admixture of some propylene with the above 5.89 parts of ethylen and ditetryl, as we do not yet possess any means of analyzing these homologous gases. The analysis of the three homologous gases, ethylene, propylene and butylene, would furnish the equations: x+ y+ z=V

2x+3y+4z=B

2x+2·5y+32=C

V being the volume analyzed, B the volume of carbonic acid formed by the combustion, and C the contraction. From the first of these equations we have x=V-z-y, and this value of x introduced into the two other equations, makes them

y+2z B-2V 2y+4z=C-2V

The second of these is evidently the half of the first and C=B. For the determination of y and z we therefore have only one equation. If there is a large quantity of the three gases to be disposed of, they may be absorbed by sulphuric acid and the alcohols of the two first may be distilled off after dilution with water.

By sending a current of common coal-gas slowly for an entire week through a number of flasks containing sulphuric acid, then diluting with water and distilling; I found on the surface of the water distilled over, a light oily substance, collecting in large drops, and having a strong, disagreeable odor. It is very likely that to this substance dissolved in the odorless parts of the gas is due the offensive odor of coal-gas. I hope yet to obtain enough of this oily substance for an analysis.

Heidelberg, May 1, 1860.

ART. XIII.—(1.) An account of the fall of Meteoric Stones at New Concord, Ohio, May 1st, 1860; by Prof. E. B. ANDREWS, of Marietta College. With (2.) Computations respecting the Meteor; by Prof. E. W. EVANS, of the same Institution. To which are added further notices of the same by D. W. JOHNSON, Esq. and Dr. J. LAWRENCE SMITH.

(1.)

ABOUT fifteen minutes before one o'clock on the first day of May, 1860, the people of southeastern Ohio and northwestern Virginia were startled by a loud noise, which was variously attributed to the firing of a heavy cannon, to the explosion of steamboat boilers, to an earthquake, and to the explosion of a meteor. In many cases houses were jarred. To persons within doors the noise generally seemed as if produced by the falling of a heavy soft body upon the chamber floor. Many persons heard a rumbling reverberation which continued for a few seconds. The area over which this explosion was heard was probably not less than one hundred and fifty miles in diameter. At Marietta, O., the sound came from a point north or a little east of north. The direction of the sound varied with the locality. An examination of all the different directions leads to the conclusion that the central point, from which the sound emanated, was near the southern part of Noble county, Ohio.

At New Concord, Muskingum Co., where the meteoric stones fell, and in the immediate neighborhood, there were many distinct and loud reports heard. At New Concord there was first heard in the sky, a little southeast of the zenith, a loud detonation, which was compared to that of a cannon fired at the distance of half a mile. After an interval of ten seconds another similar report. After two or three seconds another, and so on with diminishing intervals. Twenty-three distinct detonations were heard, after which the sounds became blended together and were compared to the rattling fire of an awkward squad of soldiers, and by others to the roar of a railway train. These sounds, with their reverberations, are thought to have continued for two minutes. The last sounds seemed to come from a point in the southeast 45° below the zenith. The result of this cannonading was the falling of a large number of stony meteorites upon an area of about ten miles long by three wide. The sky was cloudy, but some of the stones were seen first as "black specks," then as "black birds," and finally falling to the ground. A few were picked up within twenty or thirty minutes. The warmest was no warmer than if it had lain on the ground exposed to the sun's rays. They penetrated the earth from two to three feet. The largest stone, which weighed 103 lbs., struck the earth at the foot of a large oak tree, and after cutting off two roots, one five inches in diameter, and grazing a third root,

it descended two feet ten inches into hard clay. This stone was found resting under a root which was not cut off. This would seemingly imply that it entered the earth obliquely. It is said that other stones which fell in soft ground entered the earth at a similar angle. They must have been flying in a northwest direction. This fact, added to the other facts, that the detonations heard at New Concord came lower and lower from the zenith toward the southeast, and that the area upon which the stones fell extends with its longer axis in a southeast and northwest direction, would imply that the orbit of the meteor, of which these stones are fragments, extended from southeast to northwest. This conclusion is confirmed by the many witnesses who saw, at the time, a luminous body moving in the same direction. It is a fact of some interest that the larger stones were carried by the orbital force further than the small ones, and were found scattered upon the northwest end of the area referred to. This fact is readily explained by the larger proportional surface presented to the atmospheric resistance in the smaller stones. The stones thus far found vary in weight from a few ounces to over a hundred pounds. They show a decided family resemblance. All are coated with a black crust and show a bluish gray feldspathic interior with numerous brilliant points of nickeliferous iron. Although in some instances the edges remain quite sharply

defined, generally they show that they have been rounded by fusion. The accompanying figure shows the appearance of the larger stone now in the cabinet of Marietta College. Viewed from most positions this stone is angular and appears to have

2.

A

been recently broken from a larger body. On one side it is much rounder and smoother, and this (the outer surface in the figure) appears to be a part of the original surface of the main meteor. Two of its edges extend more than a foot in length, and two of its diameters are fourteen inches. In the small stones the edges are, I think, more rounded than in the larger ones. The angle at A, fig. 2, is an exact copy of a specimen in my possession. The dotted line shows the thickness of the crust. Figure 3 represents the appearance of a small stone, one side of which shows a surface only partially glazed. There was evidently a flaw in this little meteorite, and the heat entering the

3.

crack was only sufficient to fuse the surface in a very slight degree. The heat apparently penetrated the crack in straight lines as if driven backward by the high velocity. The edge of the stone surrounding this peculiar surface is a feather edge made by the melting of the metallic crust in an unusual manner.

In the examination of this interesting meteoric phenomenon, I am led to believe that the people of New Concord and in the immediate vicinity of the district where the stones fell, heard different sounds, and consequently of different origin, from those heard by people living at a greater distance. The former heard many distinct detonations followed by a rumbling roar like that of thunder. The latter heard but a single explosion followed by a somewhat similar rumbling noise but less distinct. This explosion seemed to take place at a point in the air over the southern part of Noble County. The people of the northern part of the same county heard it in a southern or southeastern direction, and not in a northwestern direction towards New Concord. This fact would indicate that the great explosion which was heard more than seventy-five miles away, took place in Noble County, and that the several distinct detonations heard at and near New Concord were directly connected with the falling of the several stones in that district. A diagram will illustrate this and also one or two other points.

SECOND SERIES, VOL. XXX, No. 88.-JULY, 1860.

By the careful computations of Prof. Evans the meteor passed in its orbit from the point A over Newport, Washington Co.,

Ohio, to the point C, which is quite as far to the northwest as New Concord represented on the diagram by D. The southeastern limit of the meteoric shower is shown by E. B is the point over Noble County where the explosion was almost universally heard to take place. If it took place there, then the onward orbital velocity would take the stones forward from twenty-five to thirty miles before they would drop to the earth between D and E. It is evident that the stones were thrown off from the meteor before it reached the point C, as the stones could hardly have been thrown backward towards E. It is also to be inferred that the meteor passed onward beyond C, although the clouds prevented further observations in that direction. The detonations heard between D and E must be accounted for by the rapid passing of the several stones through the lower atmosphere.

(2.) Prof. Evans's Computations.

Owing to the cloudy state of the atmosphere, the time was unfavorable for observing such facts as are necessary for the accurate determination of the height of the meteor, the direction of its path, its size and its velocity. After careful investigation, however, the following results have been obtained.

1. Direction of its path.—The district along which the meteorites are known to have fallen is about ten miles long and from two to three miles wide, extending in a northwesterly direction from a little west of the village of Point Pleasant, in Guernsey County, to within a mile of New Concord, in Muskingum Co.* The fragments fell with a northwesterly inclination. This is proved both by the testimony of those who saw them descend, and by the direction in which they were subsequently found to have penetrated the earth. As the sky along this district was overcast with clouds, the main body of the meteor was not seen

As nearly as can be made out from the data, the path of the meteor appears to have crossed the Ohio River in lat. 39° 30', long. 81° 20', and to have disappeared in lat. 40° 2′, long. 81° 90'.-Eds.