370 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



The chips produced by the borer were mostly very small particles. Much of the metal was reduced to powder, 

 and the coarser portions were crushed in the process of boring, so as to destroy the solidity of the iron and break up 

 its structure. A quantity of the borings representing 0.384 ccm. of the solid iron were placed in the glass tube, which 

 was then fastened in its place. The stopcock was closed and the pump set in operation. When the gauge stood at 17 mm. 

 the cock was momentarily opened, and then closed. The gauge rose to about 100 mm., and when the pump had 

 brought it down again to 17 mm. the spectroscope was applied to the vacuum tube. The red hydrogen line was seen 

 bright, the rest of the spectrum having the ordinary banded structure due to nitrogen and oxygen. As the exhaus- 

 tion proceeded the other hydrogen lines appeared, and when the tension was reduced to 4 mm. both H<rr and 

 11/? were bright and distinct. H7- was visible, though less prominent. The carbon bands also were distinctly 

 seen. At 2.5 mm. pressure the stopcock was opened, causing the gauge to rise 12.5 mm., after which it remained 

 nearly stationary for 15 minutes, although the pump was in action. A simple calculation shows that the first rise of 

 12.5 mm. is just what should have been produced by the air contained in the tube with the iron. But the fact that 

 the gauge maintained this position for a considerable time, while the pump was continually withdrawing the air, 

 shows that the iron gave off a portion of its gas without the application of heat, and it was repeatedly observed in other 

 experiments that when the stopcock was open and the pump not in action, the gauge continued to rise very slowly, 

 sometimes as much as 2 mm. in an hour or two. 



A gentle heat was now applied to the tube containing the iron by means of a Bunsen burner. This brought the 

 gauge in a few minutes to about 6 mm., and produced a marked change in the appearance of the vacuum tube, which 

 before had the appearance of an ordinary hydrogen tube. The light in the broad portion became a straight, hazy 

 stream of a dull greenish-white color, very similar to that given by a tube containing either of the oxides of carbon. 

 After the tube had been exhausted to 2 mm., heat was again applied rather more strongly than before, but still below 

 redness, carrying the gauge to 9 mm. in about 10 minutes, the effect upon the spectrum being merely to increase the 

 intensity of the carbon bands. The tube was now wrapped with copper foil, and the temperature, by means of a 

 Bunsen flame, carried to low redness, so that the glass softened and began to yield. But a small quantity of gas was 

 given off, the gauge at the end of 10 minutes standing at 5 mm. The stopcock being closed, the exhaustion was con- 

 tinued to 1.5 mm. At this point the spectrum was nearly the same as before, but was Bomewhat less brilliant- 

 Certain other lines appeared in the spectrum, 01 which mention will be made in a later paragraph. 



Some months later Wright u stated the amount of gases obtained from the meteorite to 

 be as follows: 



Temperature C0 2 CO * H Volumes 



500° 9.76 8.43 81.81 1.10 



Red heat 2. 18 48. 58 49. 24 0. 19 



Brezina 12 classed the meteorite with the Murfreesboro group of the medium octahedrites 

 and remarked concerning it as follows: 



The deeply etched specimen in the Vienna museum does not show hatching, while in all other respects it corre- 

 sponds with the characteristics of the group. The breadth of the laminae is 0.6 mm. 



Meunier 13 classed it as caillite and described the etching as follows: 



The etching figures are quite normal, kamacite bands medium width and fine grained; tsenite well defined and 

 the plessite, moderately abundant, often contains granulations plainly due to the presence of schreibersite. 



Various names have been applied to the meteorite according to the places of its find. Of 

 these Cross Timbers would be most nearly in accord with present usage, but Farrington 14 

 raised objection to this as follows: 



There are three "Cross Timbers" in Texas, occurring in Denton, Harris, and Johnson Counties, respectively. 

 None of these is near the locality latitude 32° 7' N., longitude 95° 10' W., at which this meteorite is reported to have 

 been found. It is true this locality is a long distance from the Red River as well, but this name has historic usage. 



Accordingly, the name Red River is here adopted. 



The meteorite is chiefly preserved (1,635 pounds) in the Yale collection. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1810-1814: Bruce. Mass of malleable iron. Amer. Min. Journ., vol. 1, p. 124. 



2. 1812-1814: Gibbs. Observations on the mass of iron from Louisiana. Amer. Min. Journ., vol. 1, pp. 218-221. 



3. 1824: C. H. Notice of the malleable iron of Louisiana. Amer. Journ. Sci., 1st ser., vol. 8, pp. 218-225. 



4. 1829: Shepard. Analysis of the meteoric iron of Louisiana, and discovery of the stanniferous columbite in Mas- 



sachusetts. Amer. Journ. Sci., 1st ser., vol. 16, pp. 217-219. (Analysis.) 



5. 1835: Amer. Journ. Sci., 1st ser., vol. 27, p. 382. (Great mass of meteoric iron from Louisiana.) 



6. 1842: Shepard. Analysis of meteoric iron from Cocke County, Tennessee, with some remarks upon chlorine in 



meteoric iron masses. Amer. Journ. Sci., 1st ser., vol. 43, pp. 358-359. 



