meteors and of
meteoric iron. Livy, Plutarch, and Pliny all record examples. See also
_Remarks concerning stones said to have fallen from the clouds_, by Edward
King (London, 1796); Chladni, _Ueber den Ursprung der von Pallas gefundenen
und anderer ihr aehnlicher Eisenmassen_ (Riga, 1794); _Philosophical
Transactions_, vol. lxxviii., pp. 37 and 183; vol. lxxxv., p. 103; vol.
xcii., p. 174; Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i. (p. 97 of London edition,
1860); C. Rammelsberg, _Die chemische Natur der Meteoriten_ (Berlin, 1879);
Maskelyne, _Some lecture-notes on Meteorites_ printed in _Nature_, vol.
xii., pp. 485, 504, and 520, 1875. Maskelyne denominates as _siderites_
those meteorites which consist chiefly of iron. They usually contain from
80 to 95 per cent. of iron, often alloyed with nickel. This meteoric iron
is sometimes so pure that it can at once be forged by the smith. An
admirable summary of the whole subject is to be found in L. Fletcher's _An
Introduction to the study of Meteorites_, publisht by the British Museum
(Nat. Hist.), London, 1896.

[81] PAGE 27, LINE 3. Page 26, line 41. _vt Cardanus ... scribit._--The
passage runs:

"Vidimus anno MDX cum cecidisset e coelo lapides circiter MCC in agrum
fluvio Abduae conterminum, ex his unum CXX pondo, alium sexaginta delati
fuerunt ad reges Gallor[~u] satrapes, plurimi: colos ferrugineus, durities
eximia, odor sulphureus" (Cardan, _De Rerum Varietate_, lib. xiiii., cap.
lxxii.; Basil., 1557, p. 545).

[82] PAGE 27, LINE 9. Page 27, line 2. _aut stannum, aut plumbum album._
Although most authorities agree in translating _plumbum album_ or _plumbum
candidum_ as "tin" (which is unquestionably the meaning in such examples as
Pliny's _Nat. Hist._, xxxiv. 347, and iv. 16; or Strabo, iii. 147),
nevertheless it is certain that here _plumbum album_ is not given as a
synonym of _stannum_ and therefore is not _tin_. That Gilbert meant either
spelter or pewter is pretty certain. He based his metallic terms mainly
upon Encelius (Christoph Entzelt) whose _De Re Metallica_ was published at
Frankfurt in 1551. From this work are taken the following passages: {27}

p. 61. _De Plumbo candido._ Cap. XXXI.

"Veluti plumbum nigr[~u] uocatur a Germanis blei simpliciter, od'
schwartzblei: ita plumb[~u] candid[~u] ab his uocatur weissblei, od' zin.
Improprie autem plumbum hoc nostrum candidum zin, stannum dicitur. Et non
sunt idem, ut hactenus voluerunt, stannum et plumbum candidum, unser zin