METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 11 



study of the individuals is necessary to determine whether or not they belong together. In 

 all such cases here studied, except possibly that of Cleveland and Dalton, the individuals have 

 shown characters so different that one would not be warranted in placing them together. The 

 placing of type symbols upon the maps also affords an opportunity of determining whether 

 related types have a tendency to fall in the same region, but a study of the maps betrays little 

 evidence of such a grouping. 



The total number of meteorites recognized by the writer in North America up to January 1, 

 1909, is 247, a number which will obviously increase with the occurrence of new falls and finds. 

 Of the 247 recognized meteorites, 161 are iron meteorites, 10 are iron-stone, and 76 are stone — 

 a notable excess of irons. Of the irons, 3 (Cabin Creek, Charlotte, and Mazapil) have been 

 seen to fall, of the iron-stones, 1 (Estherville), and of the stones, 56. Only meteorites actually 

 observed are here regarded as having been seen to fall. When a meteorite has been found 

 it has customarily been referred to some meteor which some one remembers to have seen in 

 the neighborhood at some previous time. This practice does not seem to the writer a sound 

 one, since there are few meteorites to which such a time of fall could not be ascribed without 

 a possibility of verifying the connection. 



Considering the province of North America as a whole, the distribution of known meteorites 

 is most abundant in the eastern United States and in Mexico. Few meteorites are known in 

 British North America and the western United States. There can be little doubt that the 

 apparent scarcity in the localities indicated is largely due to lack of observers, as the writer 

 has elsewhere urged. 1 It is not safe, however, to ascribe too much to this cause, since areas 

 equally populated show great discrepancies in the number of their meteorites. One of the 

 best illustrations of this is the State of Illinois. This is an area of 56,000 square miles in which 

 there are no known meteorites. The greatest massing of meteorites in the whole province of 

 North America occurs in the region of the southern Appalachians, where the States of Kentucky, 

 Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama adjoin. A circle with a radius 

 of 300 miles drawn about Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina, as a center, will include nearly half 

 of the known meteorites of North America. Twenty-five of these, or nearly half of the known 

 falls of the continent, are observed falls, and it would seem possible at first thought that many 

 of the meteorites in this area might have come from a single shower. This would reduce the 

 number, but the writer has made a careful study of the history of each meteorite and its geo- 

 graphic relation to those of similar character without finding any supjiort for such a view. Not 

 only does the area contain a large number of observed falls, but the finds embrace a variety 

 of types larger than any known to be produced by a single shower. Meteorites of a single type 

 are, as a rule, much more widely scattered than those of any single observed shower. As 

 regards population in the area, conditions are only moderately favorable, since the area is not 

 very thickly settled. The climate of the region is moist, the average yearly rainfall being 

 50-60 inches, so that a relatively rapid disintegration of iron meteorites might be expected. 

 Yet in spite of so many conditions unfavorable to their occurrence in large numbers, meteorites 

 are superabundant in this area. This seems to leave little doubt that some force tends to 

 bring about their concentration here. It is noteworthy that this region includes the highest 

 summits of the Appalachians, and this suggests either the presence of an extra-gravitational 

 force or that a purely obstructive effect has been exerted by the high peaks. Studies of the 

 gravitational effects of mountain masses indicate no force seemingly sufficient to affect the fall 

 of a meteorite, though some such force may exist. Magnetic influences may also be suggested. 

 Next to the massing of meteorites about the southern Appalachians, the most striking grouping 

 seems to be within the borders of Kansas. Within the area of this State, about 82,000 square 

 miles, 15 meteorites occur. Of these, four are observed falls. Those of the western part of 

 the State are all stones, and an effort has been made 2 to show that they may have been the 

 result of a single shower, but the history and characters of the meteorites, to the writer's mind, 

 negative this view. The soil of the western part of Kansas is especially favorable to the finding 



1 Pop. Scl. Mon., 1904, pp. 351-354. 2 Preston, Amer. Journ. Soi., 4th ser., vol. 9, 1900, p. 412. 



