1892,] natural sciences of philadelphia. 353 



November 22. 

 Rev. Henry C. McCook, D. D., Vice-President, in the chair. 

 Fifty persons present. 



A paper entitled " The Evolution of the Premolar Teeth in the 

 Mammals." By W. B. Scott, was presented for publication. 



A Meteoric Stone seen to fall at Bath, South Dakota. — Dr. A. E. 

 FooTE said he wished to put on record the reception of a meteoric 

 stone which was seen to fall on the 29th day of August, 1892, two 

 miles south of the town of Bath, South Dakota. About four 

 o'clock in the afternoon Mr. Lawrence Freeman and his son were 

 working in the field when they were alarmed by loud reports, 

 and looking up, saw the meteoric stone fly through the air 

 and fall about twenty rods from where they were. It seemed 

 to be followed by a cloud of dust or vapor. The stone had 

 penetrated the hardened prairie to the depth of sixteen inches and 

 was at once dug up, and was found to be so warm that it was neces- 

 sary to wear gloves to handle it. The weight of the meteorite is 

 461 pounds. It was probably originally about one pound heavier 

 but lost three fragments just before reaching the earth. Internally 

 and externally it mucli resembles the stones from Winnebago 

 County, Iowa, both the chrysolite and the iron being disseminated 

 through the mass in fine grains. Preliminary tests by Mr. A. P. 

 Brown, of the University of Pennsylvania, showed the presence of 

 both nickel and cobalt in the iron. It is a somewhat remarkable 

 fact, that although this region is sparsely settled, the number of 

 observed falls for a period of several years has been extraordinarily 

 great in proportion to the whole number of falls observed during 

 the same period. The noise of the explosion was so great that it 

 was heard, not only in the town of Bath, but in Aberdeen, a town 

 much more distant, and was described in the Aberdeen paper as 

 reseinbling distant cannonading. The annexed affidavit contains 

 the statement of an eye witness. 



Affidavit of Charles Freeman, Bath, South Dakota, November 

 18, 1892. 



'• Be it known that on this 18th day of November, 1892, person- 

 ally appeared before me, Henry T. Root, a Notary Public for South 

 Dakota, Charles Freeman, of the town of Bath, Brown County, 

 South Dakota, who deposes and says, that on the 29th day of 

 August, 1892, while at work on his father's farm, on Section 32 of 

 the town of Bath, he saw a meteoric stone fall near where his father, 

 brother and himself were working and that they then proceeded to 

 dig up the aforesaid meteoric stone and did bring it in the evening 

 of the same day to the store of J. D. Mason, in the town of Bath, 

 where it has since remained, and that he has this day boxed and 



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