METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 355 



3. 1861: von Reichenbach. No. 16, p. 261; No. 18, p. 487. 



4. 1875: Genth. On the Pittsburg Meteoric Iron. Rept. Geol. Surv. Pennsylvania, 1875, vol. 6, p. 7?. (Analysis.) 



5. 1885: Brezina. Wiener Sammlung, pp. 218 and 234. 



6. 1897: Wulfing. Die Meteoriten in Sammlungen, pp. 279-2S0. 



7. 1903: Cohen. Mitth. Naturwiss. Verein. Neu-Vorp. und Rugen, Bd. 35, 4 pp. 



PLYMOUTH. 



Marshall County, Indiana. 



Latitude 41° 21' N., longitude 86° 17' W . 



Iron. Medium octahedrite (Om) of Brezina. 



Found 1893, described 1895. 



Weight, uncertain; about 3 kgs. (6 lbs.) known. 



This meteorite was first described by Ward, 1 as follows: 



The Plymouth meteorite was found in the year 1893 by Mr. John Jefferson Kyser, while plowing in a field on 

 his farm about 5 miles southwest of the town of Plymouth, Marshall County, Indiana. Mr. Kyser had, about the year 

 1872, found in the same field another larger mass of the same iron. This mass was pear-shaped, about 4 feet in length 

 by 3 feet in its widest diameter, narrowing to 6 or 8 inches at its upper end. It lay for a year or two so near the sur- 

 face of the ground as to be seriously annoying in plowing the field. On that account Mr. Kyser, aided by his son, 

 dug a deep hole by the side of the mass and buried it to the depth of 1.5 to 2 feet beneath the surface, where it should 

 henceforth do no damage. The account of this I had last June from the son, Mr. John M. Kyser, now city clerk of 

 Plymouth. Mr. Kyser well remembers the circumstance of the finding of the large piece and assisting his father in 

 burying the same; and lie further thought that, notwithstanding the removal of certain landmarks (a fence and tree) 

 in the field, he would still be able to locate it very closely. This he subsequently undertook to do by trenching, but 

 was unsuccessful in finding the mass. I was myself present and assisted in a further search for it in September last, 

 using a surveyor's magnetic needle with the hope of the same being attracted to the mass and discovering it, but all 

 to no purpose. Mr. Kyser seems to feel very confident of his knowledge of the immediate vicinity of the mass where 

 he buried it 22 years ago, but is unable to prove its presence by rediscovery. Nor has he the aid of another eyewitness, 

 his father having died soon after the original finding and burying as above mentioned. 



The smaller piece, which was, as before said, found in 1883, was presented by Mr. Kyser, sr., to Mr. W. S. Adams, 

 who at that time kept a plow factory in the city of Plymouth. It was retained in their family until last November, 

 when it was brought to Ward's Natural Science Establishment, in Rochester, New York, by Mrs. Adams, from whom 

 I procured it. 



The mass is a lengthened tonguelike form, not unlike a rude moimd builder's ax. Its greatest length was 12.5 

 inches; its width 7| inches; its thickness in the middle about 2 inches, from which, in the greater part of its length, 

 it slopes in a somewhat even manner to a thin, rounded edge. 



Its surface is deeply eroded by oxidation, so that although sound and free from scales, it shows no signs of an 

 original crust. The characteristic pittings of meteorites are also lessened from the same cause, although they are still 

 quite clearly \isible. We have cut quite a number of thin slices from the mass. These etched in dilute nitric acid 

 give very clear Widmannstatten figures. There are further several small nodules of troilite. 



Analysis by J. M. Davison gave: 



Fe Ni Co Cu P Graphite S 



88.67 8.55 0.66 0.24 1.25 0.11 0.07 =99.55 



This iron, herein briefly noticed, is interesting in many ways, and it is much to be regretted that the large mass, 

 of which the record seems to be entirely reliable, can not be rediscovered. 



Brezina 2 gave an account of the structure as follows: 



Plymouth shows upon a section through the entire iron upon the one long side a flat contour with a weakly 

 defined crust zone and a half-melted nodule of troilite the size of a hazelnut; the opposite long side is of a bent-shield 

 form, marked at the apex with numerous hollows, outwardly even, inwardly ragged, which are filled with bright yel- 

 low concentrically marked coatings of iron enamel; on this side there is visible a 2 to 6 mm. thick lustrous zone of 

 alteration. Another piece shows on one of the small, naturally bounded surfaces many fusion hollows of ragged inte- 

 rior filled with bright gray fused crust on a sparkling alteration zone 1 to 5 mm. thick. On the other long side there 

 is a lump of troilite, melted to one-third its proper size, which shows peculiar fine cracks. The lamellae are 1 to 

 1.2 mm. thick, puffy, somewhat crumpled; taenite is well developed, the fields are predominant, almost entirely filled 

 with ridges having the aspect of lamella;; the kamacite is dull and contains numerous isolated crystals of cohenite. 



Cohen 3 states that Plymouth shows a more or less strong permanent magnetism and 

 gives the specific gravity as 7.7125. 



The Bement Collection is stated to have acquired the principal mass. 



