» 



METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 179 



4. The nicMifcrous iron. — As already stated this iron is abundant in meteorite, and sometimes in large nodules of 

 50 to 100 grams; on a polished surface the Widmannstatten figures are beautifully developed by acid. On analysis it 

 was found to contain: 



Iron 92. 001 



Nickel 7. 100 



Cobalt 690 



Copper, minute quantity. 



Phosphorus 112 



99. 903 



5. Troilite. — The proportion of troilite is not large and it could be detached only in small fragments. 



6. Chromite. — When small pulverulent fragments of the meteorite are heated with hydrochloric acid for some time 

 and the residual matter washed and dried it is easy to find particles of the stony mineral more or less filled with minute 

 black, shining particles which are chromite. 



The constitution of this meteorite, so far as I have been able to make it out, is therefore as follows: Bronzite, 

 abundant; olivine, abundant; nickeliferous iron, abundant; troilite, in moderate quantity; chromite, in minute 

 quantity; silicate, not yet well determined. 



It will be thus seen that in its composition the meteorite contains nothing that is peculiar. I should, however, 

 give it a unique position among meteorites, on account of the phenomena accompanying its fall, especially the great 

 depth to which it penetrated beneath the surface, and also because of its physical characters and the manner of asso- 

 ciation of its mineral constituents. I examined carefully for feldspar and schreibersite; but the absence of both lime 

 and alumina (except as a trace) clearly proved the absence of anorthite; and the small particles of the mineral that 

 might have been taken for schreibersite were found on examination in all instances to be troilite. 



In the same volume but in a later issue Smith 4 reported the finding of additional masses, 

 as follows: 



A number of boys, herding cattle near a lake about 4 miles west of Estherville on the day of the fall, reported 

 that when the meteor passed over them, a great shower of what appeared to them hailstones fell, and that the surface 

 of the water was alive with the falling bodies. Nearly a year after the fall, or about April 15, 1880, the people of that 

 region began to find on the freshly burned prairies small pieces of meteorites, from the size of a pea to 1 pound in 

 weight; 300 to 500 were thus found; and 10 days later (about May 1, 1880), thousands of men, women, and children 

 were on the ground daily, and from the meteoric field probably 5,000 pieces have been already gathered, making not 

 less than 60 to 75 pounds in all. 



This statement was repeated in the next volume of the American Journal of Science and 

 some additional observations made as follows: 5 



This lake was near the border of Dickinson County (the county west of Emmet) and about 5 or 6 miles southwest 

 from where the larger masses fell. All the smaller pieces are little lumps of nickeliferous iron, and even the larger 

 ones have but little stony material attached. These lumps of iron were on the wet prairie for nearly one year, and 

 yet they were not in the least rusted, many parts being bright, some looking like nuggets of platinum. It may be 

 that they are protected by an invisible coat of melted silicate. 



It is clear that the rapid passage of the meteorite through the air disintegrated the surface very rapidly, pulver- 

 izing the stony part completely; and the nodules of iron not undergoing this disintegration fell in the track of the 

 meteorite for many miles, and the greater number of them will never be found. 



This last discovery helps to fix more positively the direction of the meteorite. In former descriptions its course 

 is given as from northwest to southeast. But its general direction was from south-of-west to north-of-east; the 

 meteorite came from south of an easterly course in Dickinson County, and going north of that line in Emmet County 

 dropped the smaller fragments over the surface of the latter. 



In this last statement Smith seems to be in error. From his own showing, he should have 

 said larger fragments over the surface of the latter, i. e. Emmet County, instead of smaller. 



In the same paper, Smith 5 gives a further description of what is evidently the "opal- 

 escent silicate," referred to by him in a previous paper. This he considers to be a new mineral 

 and gives it the name " peckhamite." 



He states that having been furnished with additional material he is enabled to make a 

 more positive determination of the distinctive characters of the mineral, which he regards as 

 decidedly different from any mineral he has seen associated with meteorites. 



In two or three specimens it projected above the outer surface, having a dingy yellow color and a fused surface. 

 When broken it has a greasy aspect with a more or less perfect cleavage, and the yellow color has a greenish hue. Its 

 structure differs widely from olivine, as may be seen under the microscope. Small rounded nodules, several mili- 

 meters in size, are found in the interior of the mass, sometimes of irregular form, from which fragments nearly pure 

 can be detached. 



