84 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



dark bauds arranged according to octahedral faces. Under the microscope, however, these apparent bands do not 

 appear to be sharply separated from one another and pass gradually into compact dull plessite. These are doubtless 

 Brezina's "shadowy lamellae. " As accessory constituents the piece which I investigated contains grains of iron glass 

 near the natural surface and some schreibersite-like elongated crystals embedded in kamacite. The iron rusts easily 

 from the oozing of drops of iron chloride. 



The iron is distributed, the Vienna collection possessing 8.5 kg. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1890: Kunz. On five new American Meteorites. — 4. Meteoric iron from Bridgewater, Burke County, North Caro- 



lina. Amer. Journ. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 40, pp. 320-322. 



2. 1893: Brezina. Ueber neuere Meteoriten (Niirnberg), p. 164. 



3. 1895: Cohen. Meteoriten-Studien IV, Ann. K. K. Naturhist. Hofmus. Wien, Bd. 10, p. 82. 



4. 1895: Brezina, Wiener Sammlung, p. 271-272. 



5. 1905: Cohen. Meteoritenkunde, Heft 3, pp. 381-383. 



British America. 1871. See Victoria. 

 Buncombe County, 1835. See Black Mountain. 

 Buncombe County, 1839. See Asheville. 



Burke County, 1882. See Linville. 

 Burke County, 1890. See Bridgewater. 



BURLINGTON. 



Otsego County, New York. 



Mere also Coopsrstown 1819 and Otsego County. 



Latitude 42° 42' N., longitude 75° 12' W. 



Iron. Medium octahedrite (Om) of Brezina; Burlingtonite (type 17) of Meunier. 



Found before 1819; described 1844. 



Weight, 50 to 100 kgs., "100 to 200 pounds." 



The history and characters of this meteorite were first given by Silliman x as follows : 



Dr. L. C. Beck, in his report on the mineralogical survey of New York, p. 383, makes mention of a mass of malleable 

 iron, said to be native, which he saw in the cabinet of the Albany Institute. It does not appear that any chemical 

 examination was made of the mass. 



Last November Mr. E. C. Herrick, being in Geneva, New York, received from the hands of Prof. James Hadley 

 of that place a mass of metallic iron, which Professor Hadley assured him was a portion of the same specimen mentioned 

 by Professor Beck in his report above quoted, and that both belonged to a larger mass, which when found was supposed 

 to weigh from 100 to 200 pounds avoirdupois. Mr. Herrick also learned that Dr. Eli Pierce of Athens, New York, was 

 the gentleman who originally communicated the specimens and information to Dr. Hadley. 



On Mr. Herrick 's return to this place, the mass was placed in my hands for examination. Its strong resemblance 

 to the iron found in North Carolina by Professor Olmsted, and examined subsequently by Professor Shepard, immedi- 

 ately struck me; it was divided by broad laminae, crossing each other at angles of 60° and 120°, cutting up the surfaces 

 into triangular and rhombohedral figures. It broke with a hackly fracture and only with the greatest difficulty on the 

 thinnest edges. 



Two deep and broad sutures marked its two most regular and opposite faces, made by the wedge or chisel by which 

 the blacksmith (into whose hands the larger mass unfortunately came) severed it from the adjoining portion. It bore 

 the marks of having been intensely heated at the smith's forge, and numerous microscopic crystals of a black color 

 and brilliant luster covered some parts of its surface. They resembled phosphate of iron, but were too small to be 

 detached. I had no doubt on first 6eeing the mass of its extra-terrestrial origin, which opinion was confirmed by the 

 following analysis performed in my laboratory by Mr. C. H. Rockwell, one of my pupils. 



It dissolved quickly and completely in pure nitric acid, with the application of a gentle heat. The solution 

 tested with nitrate of silver gave no cloudiness, showing the absence of chlorine. Still further to settle the question 

 of the presence of chlorine, the mass was put in a clean capsule and placed over a water bath, covered on the plate of 

 an air pump by an air-tight jar. After exposure to this humid atmosphere for a week it was taken out and washed 

 with pure water into the capsule, which contained also water of condensation from the mass. These washings, tested 

 with nitrate of silver, remained quite unclouded. After the heat to which the mass has been subjected in the smith's 

 forge, it could hardly be expected that we should find any traces of chlorine, if it ever existed. The solution of the 

 iron in nitric acid yielded with the usual process for separating iron from nickel — 



Metallic iron 92. 291 



Metallic nickel 8. 146 



100. 437 

 No traces of other substance could be detected in the iron. Specific gravity, 7. 501. 



