ric stones? The
occurrence of the crystals in the uppermost layer of snow and their
felling asunder in the air, tell in favour of this view. Unfortunately
there is now no possibility of settling these questions, but at all
events this discovery is a further incitement to those who travel in the
High North to collect with extreme care, from snow-fields lying far from
the ordinary routes of communication, all foreign substances, though
apparently of trifling importance.

As this question can be answered with the greatest ease and
certainty by investigations in the Polar regions, I shall here, for
the guidance of future travellers, enumerate some discoveries of a
like nature which have been made by me, or at my instance.

1. In the beginning of December, 1871, there happened at Stockholm
an exceedingly heavy fall of snow, perhaps the heaviest which has
taken place in the memory of man. Several persons perished in the
snow in the immediate neighbourhood of Stockholm. During the last
days of the snowfall I had about a cubic metre of snow collected and
melted in a vessel. It left a residue of black powder, which
contained grains of metallic iron that were attracted by the magnet.

2. In the middle of March, 1872, a similar investigation was made by
my brother, KARL NORDENSKIOeLD, in a remote forest settlement, Evois,
in Finland. Here, too, was obtained, on the melting of the snow, a
small residuum, consisting of a black powder containing metallic
iron.

[Illustration: SECTION OF THE UPPER PART OF THE SNOW ON A DRIFT-ICE
FIELD IN 60 deg. N.L. One-half the natural size. ]

3. On the 8th August and 2nd September of the same year, I examined,
north of Spitzbergen, in 80 deg. N.L., and 13 deg. to 15 deg. E.L., the layer of
snow that there covered the ice. The nature of this layer is shown by
the accompanying woodcut, in which 1, is new-fallen snow; 2, a layer of
hardened old snow, eight mm. in thickness; 3, a layer of snow
conglomerated to a crystalline granular mass; and 4, common granular
hardened snow. Layer 3 was full of small black grains, among which were
found numerous metallic particles that were attracted by the magnet, and
were found to contain iron, cobalt, and possibly nickel also.

4. On the melting of 500 gram. hail, which fell in Stockholm in the
autumn of 1873, similar metallic particles containing cobalt
(nickel) were obtained, which, in this case, might possibly have
come from the neighbouring roofs, becau