86 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



above-mentioned structures present forms of coral so nearly related to 

 those of the earth, and we must, therefore, accept this fact as impor- 

 tant evidence that an organic evolution of great similarity to that on 

 our own earth has taken place on whatever planet from which these 

 meteorites originated. 



Besides corals, Dr. Weinland has also succeeded in finding a num- 

 ber of other organic remains in Dr. Hahn's specimens. The material 

 for this investigation was very large, for the greater part of the speci- 

 mens has evidently been fused together from organic fragments. This 

 is especially the case with the great meteoric stone of Knyahinya, 

 which weighed over two hundred pounds. Well-preserved forms, 

 however, are scarce, for the meteoric material was principally com- 

 posed of fragments and detritus, which greatly resembled, for instance, 

 the youngest marine chalk in the Gulf of Mexico. But, after com- 

 paring a great number of laminse and attaining some practice in this 

 work, Dr. Weinland succeeded in restoring certain often-repeated 

 formations. The sponges especially were highly developed, and of 

 these Dr. Weinland succeeded in actually determining three different 

 genera. Of one characteristic bluish sponge, which occurred in sev- 

 eral favorable shavings both as young and old specimens, he was able 

 to make a drawing of its interior construction as easily as from a liv- 

 ing specimen. He also thinks that he has discovered vegetable traces ; 

 at least, a remarkable, arched form, divided into two halves by a cross- 

 partition, and measuring - 8 millimetre in diameter, greatly resembles 

 the shield-algae (cocconeis). But he is yet unable to decide whether 

 the formations, claimed by Dr. Hahn as crinoids, really belong to 

 this class, for some of them are certainly spongim. 



So far, not a single trace has been found of higher animal forms 

 (mollusca, arthrozoa), but all the discovered organisms evidently in- 

 dicate the primary formation of the celestial body from which they 

 came. Then, again, this entire ex-terrestrial fauna hitherto discovered, 

 which already comprises about fifty different species, and which origi- 

 nates from different meteoric falls, even from some during the last cen- 

 tury, conveys the impression that it doubtlessly once formed part of a 

 single ex-terrestrial-celestial body with a unique creation, which in by- 

 gone ages seems to have been overtaken by a grand catastrophe, during 

 which it was broken up into fragments. 



Perhaps some readers of this article will ask why this remarkable 

 discovery has not been made before, considering the great number of 

 meteorites already collected in our mineralogical collections and the 

 considerable number of scientists who have investigated them.* Dif- 



* Probably the largest collection of meteoric stones is in the possession of Mr. Shep- 

 hard, of New Haven, Connecticut. It contains over 500 specimens, weighing together 

 1,200 pounds. The largest fragment, which weighs 436 pounds, comes from Colorado, 

 and the smallest, of half an ounce only, from Otsego County, New York. The largest 

 complete stone (56 pounds) fell in Muskingum County, Ohio, the smallest (less than 50 



