But a further examination of the locality revealed a number of facts which, as Professor Steenstrup pointed out, it is very difficult to reconcile with the theory that the Ovifak masses of iron are of meteoric origin. The district of Western Greenland, where these masses were discovered, has been the scene of volcanic outbursts on the grandest scale during the Miocene period. In close proximity to the great iron masses, there are seen a number of basaltic dykes; and, when these dykes are carefully examined, the basaltic rock of which they are composed is seen to be full of particles of metallic iron. In fig. 87, we have a drawing made from a section of the Ovifak basalts magnified four or five diameters. The rock-mass is seen to be composed of black, opaque magnetite, and transparent crystals of augite, labradorite, olivine, &c.; while, through the whole, particles of metallic iron are found entangled among the different crystals in the most remarkable manner. It has been suggested that this singular rock might have been formed by a meteorite falling, in Miocene times, into a lava-stream in a state of incandescence. But the relation of the metallic particles to the stony materials is such as to lend no support whatever to this rather strained hypothesis. A careful study of all the facts of the case by Lawrence Smith, Daubrée, and others well acquainted with the phenomena exhibited by meteorites, has led to the conclusion that the large iron-masses of Ovifak, as well as the particles of metallic iron diffused through the surrounding basalts, are all of terrestrial origin, and have been brought by volcanic action from the earth's interior. It is probable that, just as we find in many basaltic lavas nodules of ultra-basic materials similar to the stony parts of meteorites, so in these basalts of Ovifak we have masses of iron alloyed with nickel, similar to the metallic portions of meteorites. Both the stony and metallic enclosures in the basalt are in all probability derived from deeper portions of the earth's crust. By the weathering away of the basalt of Ovifak, the larger masses of metallic iron have been left exposed upon the shore where they were found. There are a number of other facts which seem to support this startling conclusion. Thus it has been shown by Professor Andrews that certain basalts in our own islands contain particles of metallic iron of microscopic dimensions, and it is not improbable that some of the masses of nickeliferous iron found in various parts of the earth's surface, which have hitherto been regarded as meteorites, are, like those of Ovifak, of terrestrial origin. [Sidenote: MATERIALS FILLING METALLIC-VEINS.]