A century of science in America : $b with special reference to the American Journal of Science, 1818-1918
History
A century of science in America : $b with special reference to the American Journal of Science, 1818-1918
American journal of science; Science -- United States -- History
In glancing over the indices to the Journal the close interrelation of
mineralogy to the other sciences is strikingly shown by the fact that so
many scientists whose particular fields are along other lines have
published occasional mineralogical papers. Frequently a young man has
commenced with mineralogical investigations and then later been drawn
definitely into one of these allied subjects. Men, who have won their
reputation in chemistry, physics, and all the various divisions of
geology, even that of palaeontology, have all contributed articles
distinctly mineralogical in character. For this reason the number of
American writers who have published what may be called casual papers on
mineralogy is very great in comparison to the number of those who
continue such publications over a series of years.
That the subject of meteorites is one which has been constantly studied
by American mineralogists and petrographers is shown by the long list of
papers concerning it that have been published in the Journal; it should,
therefore, be considered briefly here. Many of these papers are short
and of a general descriptive nature but others which give more fully the
chemical, mineralogical and physical details are numerous. Among the
earlier writers on this subject Benjamin Silliman, Jr., and C. U.
Shepard should be mentioned. The latter was the first to recognize a new
mineral in the Bishopville meteorite which he called chladnite. The same
substance was afterwards found in a terrestial occurrence and was more
accurately described by Kenngott under the name of enstatite. J.
Lawrence Smith later showed that these two substances were identical.
Smith did a large amount of important chemical work on meteorites. He
was the first to note the presence of ferrous chloride in meteoric iron,
the mineral being afterwards named lawrencite in his honor. The
iron-chronium sulphide, daubreelite, was also first described by him.
Other names that should be mentioned in this connection are those of A.
W. Wright who studied the gaseous constituents of meteorites, G. F.
Kunz, W. E. Hidden, A. E. Foote and H. A. Ward, all of whom published
numerous descriptions of these bodies. Among the more recent workers in
this field the names of G. P. Merrill and O. C. Farrington deserve
especial mention.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account