METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 177 



The crust is of the usual thickness, black, without luster, and much wrinkled. One of the fragments shows a 

 cavity of half an inch area completely lined with a shining dark-green glass, as if from perfect fusion of chrysolite. 



The meteoric iron, besides being in ramose branches, is also in enveloping coatings around the chrysolite, some- 

 what as in the Pallas and Atacama irons. The presence of schreibersite in the metal is apparent to the naked eye; 

 also traces of the Widmannstatten figures which so constantly attend its presence, and to which they owe their 

 production. 



A very remarkable appearance is exhibited by the meteoric iron in some specimens. It is the bright silvery 

 whiteness of the metal where it forms a portion of the exterior of the stone. It appears to have been fused and is sur- 

 rounded on all sides by the black crust coming from the stony material. 



Chrysolite occurs in large distinct concretions, some of which show imperfect crystalline facets, and nearly all 

 the larger ones possess eminent cleavages. In a few instances they are transparent and gemlike. 



Troilite, in distinct individuals, sometimes as large as a pea is highly crystalline, rarely presenting splendent 

 crystalline facets, whose color approaches silver white. The proportion in which it exists is apparently large, and 

 may equal 2 per cent. 



A feldspathic mineral, presumably anorthite, is highly crystalline, white, lustrous, and nearly transparent, resem- 

 bling the similar material found among the jecta of Vesuvius. 



Specimens of an opallike mineral of a yellowish brown color, probably chassignite, and chromite occur. 



It differs widely from the normal meteoric stones, in the unusual prevalence of a chrysolite similar to that found 

 in the meteoric irons; in the large proportion of meteoric iron present; and in the fresh and highly crystalline con- 

 dition of all the constituents. Nothing like an aggregation of pulverulent, ashlike grains, more or less rolled into 

 oolitic shapes, so common in meteoric stones, is descernible. The stony portions resemble much more the olivinic 

 rocks of extinct volcanoes, particularly those of the Eifel district. 



Judging from the specimens in hand, it can not properly be referred to any group of meteoric stones with which 

 we are acquainted. It would rather appear to be a connecting link between the litholites and the lithosiderites, 

 though it may possibly find a place in the Eucritic group of the former, in which case it would form an order by itself. 



An elaborate study of the meteorite was made by J. Lawrence Smith " and published about 

 a year after Shepard's account. Smith's account was essentially as follows: 



The place of fall is near Estherville, Emmet County, Iowa, just on the boundary of the State of Minnesota, latitude 

 43° 3C/, longitude 94° 5(/, within that region of the United States which has become remarkable for meteoric falls. 



The fall occurred about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, under a clear sky, with the sun s hini ng brightly. The accom- 

 panying phenomena were of the usual character but on a grander scale. In some places the meteor was plainly visible 

 in its passage through the air and looked like a ball of fire with a long train of vapor or cloud of fire behind it, and one 

 observer saw it 100 miles from where it fell. The sounds produced in its course are described as "terrible" and "inde- 

 scribable, " as scaring cattle and terrifying people over an area many miles in diameter. At first they were louder 

 than that of the largest artillery; these were followed by a rumbling noise as of a train of cars crossing a bridge. The 

 concussion when it struck the ground was sensible to many persons. There were distinctly two explosions. The first 

 took place at a considerable height in the atmosphere and several large fragments were projected to different points 

 over an area of 4 square miles, the largest mass going farthest to the east. Another explosion occurred just before 

 reaching the ground and this accounts for the small fragments found near the largest mass. 



A remarkable fact connected with the fall, besides the concussion which was sensible to many persons and the 

 throwing up of the ground around the place where it struck, is the depth to which the mass penetrated. Had the fall 

 taken place at night it is doubtful whether the largest mass would have been found. It struck within 200 feet of a 

 dwelling house at a spot where there was a hole (previously made) 6 feet deep and over 12 feet in diameter, filled with 

 water and having a bottom of stiff clay. This clay was excavated to a depth of 8 feet before the meteorite was discovered 

 and two or three days elapsed before it was reached. Its total depth below the general surface of the ground was 

 therefore 14 feet. 



The second large mass was found embedded in blue clay 2 miles distant from the first. The third of the three 

 largest masses was not discovered until February 23, 1880, more than nine months after the fall, and its locality was 4 miles 

 from the first. A trapper on the prairies who had witnessed the original occurrence observed a hole in a dried-up 

 slough; on sounding it with his rat spear he detected a hard body at the bottom, and on digging found the stone at a 

 depth of 5 feet. Some small fragments were doubtless detached when the large mass approached the ground, as they 

 were discovered near to it. The fragments thus obtained weighed, respectively, 437, 170, 92.5, 28, 10.5, 4, and 2 

 pounds. 



A railroad engineer who observed it before the report estimated its height to be 40 miles, but at the time of the 

 explosion much less; from an imperfect computation he considered its velocity to be from 2 to 4 miles per second. 



The masses are rough and knotted like large mulberry calculi, with rounded protuberances projecting from the 

 surface on every side; the black coating is not uniform, being most marked between the projections. These projections 

 sometimes have a bright metallic surface, showing them to consist of nodules of iron, and they also contain large lumps 

 of an olive-green mineral having a distinct and easy cleavage, which is more distinct when the surface has been broken. 

 The greater portion of the stony material is of a gray color, with this green mineral irregularly disseminated through it. 

 The two minerals are mixed under various forms; sometimes the green mineral is in small, rounded particles intimately 

 mingled with the gray; at other times it is in small cavities in minute crystalline fragments without any distinct faces 

 716°— 15 12 



