XIII. On a Mass of Native Iron from the Desert of Atamaca in Peru

Extract

When in London in spring last year, Mr Parish had the kindness to show me some specimens which he had just received from his son, Mr Woodbine Parish, his Majesty's Consul-General at Buenos Ayres, among which I was surprised and much pleased to find two masses of native iron, exactly similar to the celebrated Siberian block, made known to the scientific world through the exertions of Pallas, having the same vesicular structure, and containing the same straw-yellow coloured olivine firmly imbedded.

I immediately suggested to Mr Parish the propriety of losing no time in making this discovery known, and thereby secure to his son the merit of bringing it before the public; and in order to do this in the most effectual manner, I advised him to present one of the masses to the Royal Society of London, and the other to the Royal Society of Edinburgh; and it is with pleasure that I now find myself deputed to carry his wishes with respect to this Society into execution, by presenting one of the masses as a donation to this institution in the name of his son.