332 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



NETT METEORITE IX TENNESSEE. 



Within a few months, another small meteoric mass has been: added to the 

 list of those extra-terrestrial bodies which have fallen within the limits of 

 Tennessee. This is a stone, weighing, when first obtained, three pounds. It 

 fell two miles west of Petersburg, and fifteen north-west of Fayetteville, in 

 Lincoln county, about half-past three o'clock P.M., August 5th, 1855, during 

 or just before a severe rain storm. Its fall was preceded by a loud report, 

 resembling that of a large cannon, followed by four or five lesser reports ; these 

 were heard by many persons in the surrounding country. Immediately after, 

 it approached from the east, and appeared, while failing, to be surrounded by 

 a milky halo, two feet in diameter. It buried itself about eighteen inches in 

 the soil, and when first dug out was too hot to be handled. 



This specimen has an edge broken off, revealing the character of the interior. 

 Within it is of an ashen-grey color, varied by patches of white, yellowish, and 

 dark minerals. "\Yhen first obtained it was entirely covered, as most meteor- 

 ites of this kind are, with a very thin "black, shining crust, as if it had been 

 coated with pitch ;" this was doubtless formed by the fusion of its outer sur- 

 face in its rapid passage through the air. 



One end or face, which may be regarded as the base, has an irregular rhom- 

 boidal outline, averaging 2f by 2 inches. Placing the stone upon this end, 

 the body of it presents the form of an irregular, slightly oblique, rhomboidal 

 prism. The upper end, however, is not well defined, but runs up to one side 

 in a flattened protuberance, giving the entire specimen a form roughly 

 approaching an oblique pyramid. The length from the base to the apex is 

 4rJ- inches. Three adjacent sides are rough, being covered with cavities and 

 pits. It is likely that the stone has been torn off from a larger mass, or from 

 other fragments along these faces. The other sides are smoother and rounded, 

 and appear to have constituted a portion of the surface of the larger mass. 



The specimen acts upon the needle ; fragments of it readily yield particles 

 of nickeliferous iron by trituration in a mortar. The specific gravity of the 

 entire specimen is 3 -20. It weight, in its present condition, 3 'S3 Ibs. 



Fragments of this meteorite have been analysed, and found to contain the 

 following minerals : Pyroxene principal portion of the mass ; Olivene and 

 orthoclase disseminated through the mass ; nickeliferous . iron forming 

 about one half per cent, of the mass. In addition to these, there are specks of 

 a black shining mineral, not yet examined. 



The general analysis is as follows : Silica 49'21, alumina 11 "05, protoxyd of 

 iron 20'41, lime 9'01, magnesia, 8'13, manganese '04, iron '50, nickel, trace, 

 phosphorus, trace, sulphur '06, soda '82. Saffor&s Geological Reconnaissance of 

 <he State of Tennessee. 



METEOEIC LEAD. 



Mr. Gleig, of England, has recently found in a mass of meteoric iron received 

 from Tarapaca, Chili, small globules of meteoric lead in a metallic state. 

 Small quantities of iron and alumina, with pieces of magnesia and phosphorus, 



