Letter on Aërolites from Greenland

Abstract

Copenhagen, Oct. 10, 1871. My Lord,—Two Swedish-Government vessels have lately visited this port, having on board a scientific commission which has just returned from an expedition to the coast of Greenland. They brought with them a number of aërolites which had been found on the coast upon the surface of the ground. These aërolites are all of the iron class, and consist of masses of what is called meteoric iron, of various sizes, the largest weighing no less than 25 tons. As these curiosities were discovered in Greenland, one of them, the second in size, has been presented by the discoverers to the Danish Government, and has been placed in the arsenal in this city. I have, &c. (Signed) Charles Lennox Wyke . Discussion . Mr. David Forbes having recently returned from Stockholm, where he had the opportunity of examining these remarkable masses of native iron, took the opportunity of stating that they had been first discovered last year by the Swedish arctic expedition, which brought back several blocks of considerable size, which had been found on the coast of Greenland. The expedition of this year, however, has just succeeded in bringing back more than twenty additional specimens, amongst which two were of enormous size. The largest, weighing more than 49,000 Swedish pounds, or about 21 tons English, with a maximum sectional area of about 42 square feet, is now placed in the hall of the Royal Academy of Stockholm; whilst, as a compliment to Denmark, on whose territory they were found