METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 323 



Under date of May 25, Mr. Lenoir writes: " It was ploughed up or washed out in a field in Cherokee County, North 

 Carolina, 5 miles from Murphy. From the location [where] found I think it must have been washed out by some of the 

 immense rains which fell in that section last winter. . . . The small piece inclosed with the larger one was broken 

 off when I purchased it. . . . The stone [iron] I understand was found about six weeks ago." Later he writes: "In 

 answer to yours of June 10, asking how the meteorite was broken, will say that I did not break the meteorite. The man 

 who first showed me the piece said that they attempted to cut it with a cold chisel and did not succeed. By some 

 means (I think he said) they cut around it and then either with a blow or by prying broke it off. . . . He said he 

 had a 'hell of a time' breaking it." 



As was to be expected, this meteorite adds another to the great majority of siderites the date of whose fall is unknown.' 



A figure shows the iron with the broken piece set in place so as to give the original form. Its height is 23.5 cm. A 

 rectangle drawn about the base upon which it stands measures 13.4 by 11.5 cm. The weight of the iron was 7,753 grama 

 (17 pounds 1.5 ounces), of which the broken end weighed SOS grams. Another photograph of the"entire iron was taken 

 to show the remarkably sharp angle formed by the left-hand edge and the side opposite to that shown in the figure 

 above mentioned; but a defect in the plate rendered this photograph unusable. Another figure, showing end views 

 of both pieces from the broken surface, gives something of this angularity which was rather more marked lower down. 

 In some of the larger sections cut across the iron this angle is rather more acute than a right angle, as this side is some- 

 what concave, and the edge is very sharp. These two sui^aces are less deeply pitted than the one shown in the figure; 

 and convey the impression that the meteorite in hand is but a fragment of a larger one that broke not far above the 

 earth. Had it traveled far since dividing we would expect the angles to be rounded. An examination of the crust 

 fails to give any evidence for or against this theory. Flow lines, if they ever existed, have been removed by weathering 

 and the oxidized crust appears equally thin on all sides. The fact that the edges of the mass are approximately parallel 

 to the lines of crystallization is only in accordance with what has been shown to be common to siderites in general. 



The square fracture is an interesting feature that I believe to be quite unusual in iron meteorites. Its surface is 

 nearly a parallelogram 4.8 by 3.3 cm. with one of the shorter sides surmounted by a triangle 3.5 cm. in height, giving a 

 surface of approximately 21.5 sq. cm. One side shows that it has been cut by a cold chisel to a depth of about 2 mm. 

 The rest of the face is a clean straight break with a hackly surface. 



The etched surface presents two main series of lines inclosing rhombs having the angles 161.2 and 1S.8; other lines 

 crossing these produce all the figures compatible with the twinning about a cube, with the exception of a single line 

 which probably exists but which I have been unable to find. 



Under the microscope each higher power up to about 100 diameters reveals lines not seen with lower powers. 

 That the series of lines giving the angles above mentioned are the primary ones, is indicated by the fact that 

 the lines of fracture on the broken face have followed these. On a section cut at right angles to these the lines apparent 

 to the eye give decidedly larger figures, but under the microscope this distinction disappears. 



Troilites appear in all the sections, but are in most cases of very small size. The largest one that appears measures 

 9 by 13 cm. in diameter. It is interesting to note that the Neumann lines are materially flexed immediately about 

 some of the troilites, indicating that they existed in a plastic condition during the growth of the troilites. 



Daubr6elite in unusually large masses occurs in two of the slices, both as veins crossing the troilites and as solid 

 masses at the sides. The largest mass measures on its two nearly rectangular faces 5.5 and 5 mm., the other sides being 

 formed by a segment of the nearly circular border of the troilite within which it has formed. 



An analysis of the iron has not yet been made. 



Unfortunately the more euphonious title "Cherokee County" has already been applied to the Losttown, Cherokee 

 County, Georgia, siderite and we are forced to adopt the less pleasing one of the town near which it was found, Murphy, 

 as the name for this meteorite. 



Cohen 2 gave an analysis of the meteorite and later 3 an account of its structure, as follows : 



Murphy etches readily, and is distinguished by unusually long etching lines which cross one another in various 

 'directions; still it is not wanting in short ones which are usually sharply defined from the former on both sides of them. 

 Etching pits are, with the exception of the immediate vicinity of the larger rhabdites, present everywhere, but in 

 varying numbers. Sometimes they lie closely compacted together, and thereby produce irregular patches which in 

 certain positions of the etched surface are quite strongly marked by a dull luster. The remaining portions have a 

 bright luster, and here the pittings are very scarce, but uniformly distributed. Minor constituents are very sparingly 

 represented. Especially noteworthy is the absence of the customary rhabdite needles, so characteristic of hexa- 

 hedrites. Specific gravity, 7.7642. 

 Analysis by Fahrenhorst: 



Fe Ni Co Cu Cr S P CI C 



93.93 5.52 0.61 0.02 0.34 0.06 0.04 



Composition : 



Nickel iron .-'..,. 97. 69 



Schreibersite 2. 20 



Lawrenceite * 0. 11 



100. 00 



The meteorite is distributed, the British Museum possessing 1,159 grams and Ward 567 

 grams. 



