22 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



A further account is given by Urquidi 13 , as follows in a letter to Professor Henry: 



Nothing is known with certainty regarding the fall of this meteorite nor is it mentioned in the deed of the Hacienda 

 Conception. There is an inscription engraved on the upper part of it which reads: "A 1600"; and the antiquated 

 character of this inscription has created the general belief that it refers to the year in which the meteorite fell, or rather 

 to that of its discovery, since historical tradition (not to speak of the absurd fable to the effect that Malinche let it fall, 

 while transporting it hidden through the air, on account of a cock having crowed) only tells us that during the last 

 century it was discovered buried in the sand on a piece of bushy land which had been drained, situated 800 yards 

 south of the main house of the hacienda, whence it was taken about 100 yards off, where it remained a long time; and 

 that in the year 1810, Don Manuel Concha, then administrator of the hacienda, removed it and placed it as a sign at 

 the door of a blacksmith shop, situated about 15 yards from the south corner of the main house. There it was when 

 I first knew it, in 1823, and from there my brothers and I managed to roll it to its present place, at the south corner 

 of the main house. Lately it has been necessary to straighten it, as it has been leaning, in consequence of the sinking 

 of the ground, or of the effects of a stroke of lightning in 1859, which also probably damaged the walls of the corner in 

 question. 



With much difficulty and after spoiling chisels of good steel, several pieces have been cut at different times, leav- 

 ing a brilliant surface where separated. Even a bridle bit, knives, and some other small objects have been made of it. 

 The blacksmiths assert that the iron is very ductile and malleable. It is said to consist almost entirely of iron, with 

 a little nickel. The peculiar appearance of the many little holes seen in its surface show that at some time it was in 

 a state of fusion, since such holes are identical with the cavities left by bursting bubbles. 



In regard to its weight and dimensions, I copy what I find in some notes in my possession, which read thus: "From 

 the above reckoning, it will be seen that the meteorite measures 39,299 cubic inches. Considering the metal as cast 

 iron, the weight of which is to the weight of distilled water, frozen, as 72.070 is to 1,000 and that the cubic centimeter 

 of such water weighs 20.031 grains, we may infer that the meteorite weighs 154.0132 arrobas." (One arroba is equiva- 

 lent to 25 pounds.) 



Wulfing 24 shows that the above weight in arrobas would be about 1,700 kg., while the 

 cubic contents above given would weigh 5,000 kg. 



Brezina 19 in 1885 classed the meteorite as an ataxite, but remarked that a new section 

 was needed. 



Castillo 20 gives the location of the Hacienda de Concepcion as 22 km. south of the valley of 

 San Bartolome, now called Valle de Allende, or simply Allende, upon the road leading from the 

 Hacienda de Rio Florido out of the Valle de San Bartolome. The meteorite, he says, has 

 nearly the form of a parallelopipedon 1 meter long, 1 meter wide, and 0.4 meter high. He 

 goes on to say: 



By its submersion in water M. F. Urquidi has calculated that it has a volume of 403,365 c. c. Its density being 

 7.76, it has then a weight of 3,130 kg. It is riddled with cylindrical holes in part filled with troilite. M. F. Urquidi 

 has stated in a letter to M. A. Urquidi, his uncle, that the meteorite was moved April 29, 1780, from the Sierra de las 

 Adargas near Huejuquilla to Concepcion. 



Castillo further states that the meteorite was at the time of his writing at the Hacienda de 

 Concepcion, but that it would soon be moved to the School of Mines in Mexico. 



His map shows the location of the mass near the Rio Concepcion. 



Fletcher 2l gives the above accounts in full and also states that Don Jose de la Soto, the 

 owner of the Hacienda of Chupaderos, informed him that the location of the Sierra de las 

 Adargas was 8 or 9 leagues south of Jimenez. 



Brezina 23 in 1895 adopts the name Adargas and places the meteorite among octahedrites 

 with medium lamella?. He rejects Castillo's (Fletcher's) suggestion that the irons of Morito 

 and Adargas belong with Chupaderos, and gives a figure of an etched plate of Adargas to show 

 its differences from Chupaderos and Morito. He states that uniting Adargas with Morito is 

 prevented by the breadth of lamellae of Adargas which is near that of the coarse octahedrites, 

 while Chupaderos differs from both in the character of the tsenite. He describes a section of 

 Adargas received from Castillo as follows : 



Strongly spotted, quite broad kamacite (1.3 mm.), similar to Misteca and to a piece obtained from Krantz as Toluca 

 which I regard as Misteca. Tsenite strongly developed; fields generally completely filled with combs, rarely with 

 dark gray plessite. On the surface are projecting octahedral ridges weathered free as in Pila and Cranbourne. After 

 etching, irregular, dark gray, mold-like spots appear everywhere. 



The name of Adargas, used by Brezina has been adopted by later writers and is here used, 

 although in the view of the present writer the name of Concepcion would on many accounts 



