164 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



fire-ball surpassing the moon in apparent magnitude, follow- 

 ed by a great number of smaller meteors. An observer in 

 Columbus, O., stated that " the color of the light was yellow- 

 ish-red, resembling the light from the red balls of fire thrown 

 out by the explosion of some kinds of fire-rockets." Although 

 the display occasioned by the passage of the meteor through 

 the air was so brilliant, only a very small fragment seems to 

 have reached the earth : this was found by Mr. Norris lying 

 on the surface of the snow near where he had noticed it to 

 fall. It weighed about three fourths of a pound. The de- 

 scription of the stone as given by Professor Shepard and 

 Dr. Smith shows it to be remarkable for its coarse pisolitic 

 structure, resembling, according to the latter, the meteorite 

 of Aussun, France. 



Two other meteorites have been described by Dr. Smith 

 as having fallen within a month of the one which has just 

 been mentioned. These are the meteorites of Warrenton, 

 Mo., and of Cynthiana, Ky. The former fell about sunrise 

 on the 3d of January, 1877. In its passage through the 

 air it produced a noise similar to the whistle of a distant 

 locomotive ; and in falling struck a tree, breaking off some 

 of the limbs. When it reached the ground it was broken 

 into a number of pieces, which were picked up while still 

 warm. Some ten or fifteen pounds have been preserved. 

 The stone has a uniform dark ash color, and is soft and easily 

 crushed, which accounts for its being so much fractured in 

 falling. 



The bolide of which the Cynthiana meteorite was a part 

 was seen brilliantly over portions of Indiana and Kentucky. 

 The fall was accompanied with considerable noise, producing 

 much consternation among the inhabitants of the surround- 

 ing country. The stone was. seen to strike the earth, and 

 was immediately dug up from a depth of thirteen inches, to 

 which it had buried itself. Its weight was about fourteen 

 pounds. In character it much resembled the well-known 

 meteorite of Parnallee, India. 



Dr. Smith has also published accounts of the W T aconda, 

 Ks., meteoric stone discovered in 1S7G, but the date of 

 whose fill is not known ; also of the Bates County, Mo., me- 

 teoric iron (1875), and that of Rockingham County, N. C, 

 discovered in 18G3. 



