On the possible existence of a nickel-iron constituent (Fe₅Ni₃) in both the meteoric iron of Youndegin and the meteoric stone of Zomba

Extract

In a paper read before the Mineralogical Society on April 10, 1894, describing the details of the analysis of a meteoric stone which had been found at Makariwa in New Zealand, attention was called by the present author to the fact that the operation of extracting the nickel-iron by mercuric solution from the material separated from the powdered stone by the magnet was scarcely a terminable one; for even the twelfth extraction by means of a solution of mercuric ammonium chloride evidently contained an appreciable amount of colouring matter, while the colour of the extract indicated an increase in the proportion of the nickel. ‘It was clear that one or other constituent of the attracted material was being only slowly dissolved, and that it was practically useless to push the operation farther.