METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 251 



There is, therefore, a strong probability that the pieces now being described are fragments of the identical meteorite 

 which startled Judge Ferguson on that night. The fact that these masses of meteoric iron were found in water, 

 and that all the branches of the creeks in this county are subject to strong floods of a few hours' duration, but while 

 they last, sufficient to float logs, may account for the finding of these three pieces (evidently fragments of one piece of 

 of very friable iron), scattered as they were, and also for the oxidation of the crust of the iron, which might have re- 

 mained intact for a much longer period, had the meteorite buried itself in the earth. Of the 26 or 27 pounds which 

 were found, only about 2 pounds have been preserved. I am under obligations to Maj. Delafield Du Bois, S. Floyd 

 Hoard, and Dr. John N. Tilden, for obtaining information and material. 



Huntington 2 expressed the opinion that this meteorite belonged to the Cosby Creek, 

 Cocke County, fall. Kunz 3 accepted this suggestion. The opinion has not been followed by 

 later cataloguers, however, and there seems little reason for it. 



Brezina 5 has the following mention of the iron: 



Old Fork (of Jennys Creek) is an iron made very porous by weathering, and one which sometimes falls to pieces 

 in a sort of rubble of from 3 to 10 mm. in bulk. The structure has great similarity with that of Cosby Creek. 



The small quantity of the meteorite known is distributed, Vienna having the largest 

 amount, 587 grams. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1885: Kunz. Proc. American Assoc. Adv. ScL, vol. 34, 1885, p. 246. 



2. 1887: Huntington. On the Coahuila meteorites. Amer. Journ. ScL, 3d ser., vol. 33, p. 118. 



3. 1887: Kunz. On some American meteorites. Idem, vol. 34, p. 475. 



4. 1894: Huntington. The Smith ville meteoric iron. Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci., vol. 29, p. 259. (Chart.) 



5. 1895: Brezina. Wiener Sammlung, p. 286. 



JEROME. 



Gove County, Kansas. 



Latitude 38° 47' N., longitude 100° 14' W. 



Stone. Spherulitic crystalline chondrite (Cck), of Brezina. 



Found 1894; described 1898. 



Weight, 29.6 kgs. (65.25 lbs.). 



This meteorite was described chiefly by Washington, 2 as follows: 



The meteorite, described in the present paper, was acquired for the Yale University Collection about a year ago, 

 through the generosity of members of the class of 1857. Professor Dana entrusted it to me for examination, for which 

 kindness I desire to express my hearty thanks. 



Little is known of the circumstances of its finding, and all that could be ascertained was published by Professor 

 Dana in a note in the Yale Alumni Weekly for May 6, 1897, from which I quote the following: 



"It was found April 10, 1894, by Mr. H. T. Martin, on the Smoky Hill River, Gove County, Kansas, about 15 

 miles east of Jerome. Mr. Martin was then engaged in hunting fossils, and his attention was attracted by this mass, 

 whose appearance was quite foreign to the rock of the neighborhood. It proved on examination to be a meteorite, of 

 the circumstances of whose fall nothing has been learned. The same State has furnished a number of other meteorites 

 at points considerably distant from that where the present one was discovered , and it is possible that some of them 

 may prove to have been parts of the same original meteor. The stone has been placed in the center of the case 

 devoted to meteorites in the mineral room of the Peabody Museum." 



As the Smoky Hill River is several hundred miles long, and other meteorites may be found in the extended area 

 of Gove County, I propose for this mass the name of the Jerome Meteorite, after the nearest town. 



The stone consists of several pieces, the largest weighing about 62 pounds (30 kg.), with several smailer fragments, 

 the largest of which weighs 2.5 pounds and collectively 3.25. One of these was apparently broken off at the time of 

 fall, as none of its surfaces are those of a fresh fracture. 



The main mass measures some 12 inches in its largest diameter, the other dimensions being between 9 and 10 

 inches; it has roughly pointed ends, and its polyhedral form is vaguely suggestive of a dodecahedron drawn out in the 

 direction of its vertical axis. One end is quite sharply pointed, while the other is blunter and irregular, showing some 

 fresh and other older fracture surfaces, and is apparently the point of impact. From this broken surface a number of 

 fine cracks radiate through the body of the mass. 



The mass is bounded by fairly plane surfaces, some being quite flat, while others are more or less warped. The 

 angles are rounded. A few shallow pits are seen, and here and there ovoidal nodules, which project slightly above 

 the main surface, or from the bottoms of shallow depressions. These measure several centimeters in length, with a 

 width of about two-thirds of the length. 



A thin, dark brown crust covers the surface, but this has suffered through atmospheric decomposition, and is much 

 corroded, lacking in places, and often dull and rusty. No signs of ridges or other flow phenomena are to be seen on 



