5H 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and interesting evidence a geologist deduced the hypothesis that the 

 crater known as Coon Bntte could have been produced by a meteor 

 with a diameter of fifteen hundred feet, and a careful examination 

 with a view of discovering it was made with nicely adjusted mag- 



One Hundred and Sixty-one Pound Meteorite. 

 A part of the ten-ton meteorite which fell at 

 Coon Butte, near Canon Diablo. 



One Hundred and Sixty-one and a 

 Half Pound Meteorite found 

 near Crater of Coon Butte. 



netic instruments; but in no instance did they indicate the presence 

 of a vast body of metal buried in the earth, and it was assumed that 

 the striking of the crater by the colossal meteorite was a chance 

 blow. 



The meteorites or foreign bodies which bombard the earth may 

 be included in three classes — meteoric irons or aerosiderites, meteoric 

 iron stones or aerosiderolites, and meteoric stones, aerolites — all con- 

 taining elements, about twenty-five in number, which have been 

 found upon the earth. The most conspicuous and important are 

 silicon, iron, nickel, magnesium, sulphur, carbon, and phosphorus, 

 while the others are aluminum, antimony, arsenic, calcium, chlorine, 

 chromium, cobalt, copper, hydrogen, 

 lithium, manganese, oxygen, potassi- 

 um, sodium, tin, and titanium. Hydro- 

 gen and the diamond have also been ob- 

 served. A number of interesting 

 chemical compounds are found in me- 

 teorites not known on the earth, and a 

 study of their character shows that the 

 conditions under which the meteors 

 were formed were entirely different 

 from those which saw the beginning of 

 things terrestrial. In brief, where me- 

 teors were born there was an absence of air and water. On the other 

 hand, there was at some stage in the history of meteorites an abun- 

 dance of hydrogen. The meteoric irons are made up principally of 

 iron with an alloy of nickel, and show a rich crystalline structure, the 



Crosses show Large Pieces of the 



M ETEOBITB FOUND AT Coon BuTTE. 



(Seven miles in diameter.) 



