METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 211 



after entering the atmosphere, but while still moving rapidly enough to produce a melted crust 

 over the surface of fracture." In his later catalogue, Huntington 4 gives a sketch of this 

 mass. The description and weight hardly agree with Smith's account. 



Meunier 5 lists what is probably meant to be this iron as Frankfort, Franklin County, 

 Alabama, 1854. He states that the figures are remarkably well defined and also says: 



The tasnite is in very narrow plates between tubercular bands of kamacite. The plessite is in extended areas of 

 relatively dark shade and incloses little spots of a silver-white metal which has not been isolated. The museum speci- 

 men shows a large nodule of pyrhotite remarkable for its high degree of crystallization and the extreme tenuity of its 

 graphitic coat. 



The meteorite is distributed, the largest piece being in the Harvard collection. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1870: Smith. Description and analysis of the Franklin County meteoric iron. Amer. Journ. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 



49, p. 331. 



2. 1885: Brezina. Wiener Sammlung, pp. 211, 212, and 234. 



3. 1886: Huntington. Crystalline structure. Amer. Journ. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 32, p. 286. 



4. 1887: Huntington. Catalogue of all recorded meteorites. Proc. American Acad. Arts and Sci., vol. 23, p. 86. 



5. 1893: Meunier. Revision des fers m^teoriques, p. 61. 



GLORIETA. 



Glorieta Mountain, near Canoncito, Santa, Fe County, New Mexico. 

 Here also Albuquerque and Canoncito, but not Canyon City or Trinity County. 

 Latitude 35° 34' N., longitude 105° 45' W. 



Iron. Medium octahedrite (Om) of Brezina; Caillite (type 18) of Meunier. 

 Found and noticed 1884; described 1885. 



Weight about 146 kgs. (320 lbs.). Sixteen individuals, of which the three largest weighed 

 67.52 kgs. 



This meteorite was first described by Kunz 1 as follows: 



This mass was found by Mr. Charles Sponsler, a prospector, on some unclaimed land on Glorieta Mountain about 

 half a mile from a house in the woods 1 mile northeast of Canoncito, Santa Fe County, New Mexico, in May (?), 1S84. 

 The mass was lying on a rock, upon which it had fallen, in three fragments, and judging from the few marks of weather- 

 ing had not been long exposed. The exact date of discovery not determined. 



The weight of the entire mass is 317 pounds (143.76 kg.). Perhaps 1 kg. had been chipped off, so that the original 

 weight may have been about 145 kg. The dimensions of the original mass were approximately 25 by 10 by 15 inches 

 (65 by 25 by 37 cm. ). It is quite unusual to find so large and compact a mass of iron so completely broken asunder, and 

 in this respect the fall is unique. The fractures are very clean considering the size of the fragments, although the edges 

 are somewhat irregular. No. 1 is filled with elongated hollows, proving that it evidently was disturbed, and the twist- 

 ings in No. 2 at the point of impact would lead to the conclusion that the falling body was partly semiplastic; but Pro- 

 fessor Thurston compares the fracture to the effect of a sudden heavy blow on cold iron as may be seen in an iron target 

 used for heavy gun practice. 



No. 1 weighs 148.5 pounds. About one-third of the whole surface shows the disjuncture very plainly, as also the 

 exact point where this began. This mass measures 39 by 30 by 22 cm. One part has a peculiar bubbled pasty appear- 

 ance as if the mass had been cooled in water at this point. Some of the pittings are 5 cm. across and quite deep and well 

 marked. An etched surface of this fragment shows the Widmannstatten figures. 



No. 2 weighs 115 pounds (52.3S kg.) and measures 41 by 24 by 16 cm. About one-third of the surface of this 

 piece shows the remarkable rupture, the remainder being covered with the pittings. On one corner there is a portion 

 10 by 6 inches which is evidently the spot where the mass struck the rock. Here the pittings are flattened and the 

 whole mass distorted and curled over, giving it a radiated or fanlike appearance. 



No. 3 weighs 53.5 pounds (24.263 kg.), and measures 30 by 21.25 by 15 cm. Over five-sixths of the entire surface is 

 pitted, some of the depressions being 5 cm. across and nearly 2 cm. deep. The place of rupture is plain and the iron 

 here is coarsely fibrous, possibly because it was farther from the point of impact. There is also a fissure 10 cm. deep 

 and nearly 1 cm. wide opposite the broken face. In this fissure are fragments of two chisels which were broken in the 

 attempt to pry off this piece and which may have enlarged the opening. 



This iron is one of the Holosiderites of Daubree, and comes under the general group of Cailite of Meunier; it is 

 related to the irons of Augusta County, Virginia, Whitfield County, Georgia, and Washington County, Wisconsin. The 

 iron is of the characteristic octahedral structure, and the Widmannstatten figures are made up of kamacite (Balkeneisen 

 or beam-iron), i. e., iron with little nickel, enveloped in tsenite (Bandeisen), rich in nickel and plessite (Fulleisen). 

 On a single section one field of dark plessite measured 17 by 8 mm., the kamacite from 0.5 to 0.2 mm. in breadth. The 

 tsenite was abundant and brilliant. 



