420 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



SMITHVILLE. 



Dekalb County, Tennessee. 

 Here ako Caryfort, Cany Fork, and Caney Fork. 

 Latitude 35° 56' N., longitude 85° 48' W. 



Iron. Coarse octahedrite (Og), of Brezina; Arvaite (type 7), of Meunier. 

 Found 1840; described 1845. 



Weight of mass found in 1840, 16 kgs. (36 lbs.). In 1893, three more masses of 30, 7 and 3 kgs. (65, 15 

 and 7 lbs.) were found, and in 1903 two of 3.4 and .5 kgs. (8 and 1 lbs.). 



The first mention of this meteorite was by Troost. 1 He mentions a meteoric iron found a 

 few miles west of Canyfork, Dekalb County, Tennessee. He states that it had a smooth, 

 glossy surface and was of an oval shape, its longer diameter being from 10 to 12 inches. Five 

 years later he described the mass which he says was found in Dekalb County, Tennessee, a 

 few miles west of Cany Fork, near the road from Liberty to the ferry on that river, as follows: 



Only one piece of it was discovered. Its weight when it came into my possession was about 36 pounds. Its 

 original weight must have been greater, as several chips had been cut from the surface, by which the blacksmiths and 

 silversmiths found out that it was not gold or silver. 



When I first saw the mass, it had an ochery-brown glossy surface, but the least scraping with an iron tool brought 

 the natural iron color to light, so that it was not covered with a crust. It had an irregular oval shape. 



This iron is remarkable for its Widmannstatten or crystalline figures, which are handsomely displayed on the 

 section without its being subjected to any chemical operation. These figures are shown on the polished surface by 

 the section of laminae, which are embedded through the whole mass of iron. These lamellae are easily distinguished 

 from the rest of the mass by their color, which is almost silver-white; they are harder and receive a brighter polish 

 than the bulk of the mass. When these lamellae are cut parallel to their planes, or nearly so, they exhibit only irreg- 

 ular spots, but when they are cut transversely, though irregularly dispersed through the iron, they exhibit a regular 

 arrangement. They are all inclined toward each other in such manner that if they were extended till they met at 

 the extremities, they would form equilateral triangles, so they that indicate the crystalline structure of the mass, 

 which is that of octahedrons. In this respect it coincides with the Cocke County iron. The latter being more or less 

 subject to decomposition, I was able to separate several of these lamellae, which have almost the color and luster of 

 burnished silver, and are not yet tarnished, though they have been exposed for 5 or 6 years to the influence of the 

 atmospheric air. 



There is no doubt that these pellicles, or lamellae, though equally attracted by the magnet, have a different com- 

 position from other parts of the iron , and tins seems to be the cause that the several analyses made of the same iron 

 seldom give the same result. 



The polished section of my cabinet specimen offers a surface of about 7 by 4.5 inches; it exhibits in this space 

 two large heterogeneous masses, one of about 0.8 inch and the other about two-thirds of an inch in diameter, and others 

 smaller. I consider these masses as composed principally of graphite, intimately mixed with metallic iron, as the 

 powder which I scraped off is feebly attracted by the magnet, and soils paper like common plumbago, and its Btreak 

 has a black metallic luster. In tliis respect, also, it resembles the Cocke County iron. Upon the whole, it is an inter- 

 esting variety. 



The locality near Liberty, where Troost states his specimen was discovered, is about 10 

 miles from Smithville. 



Huntington 5 described the structural features as follows: 



Another striking octahedral mass is a fragment of the well-known Dekalb County meteorite. One specimen of 

 this iron shows hollow octahedral faces 2 inches in diameter, like hopper crystals, consisting of skeletons built up of 

 a series of plates about half an inch wide and one-sixteenth of an inch thick. These plates when cut transversely 

 constitute the Widmannstatten figures. When the section is cut at random the figures may differ somewhat in char- 

 acter and the plates appear to make various angles with each other; but when the etched surface is parallel to an octa- 

 hedral face, the Widmannstatten figures all make equilateral trinagles, their sides being parallel to the octahedral 

 edges. 



In 1892 three other masses were found at Smithville and described by Huntington 8 as 

 follows: 



In the early part of last summer Mr. Ilerman Meyer sold three new masses of meteoric iron from Smithville, Dekalb 

 County, Tennessee, to Professor Ward, of Rochester, New York. After the largest mass had been sawed into slices 

 these were kindly sent by Professor Ward to the writer for examination and with it was sent the following letter describ- 

 ing the find: 



"Three siderites weighing about 7, 15, and 65 pounds each. 



"In November, 1892, Mr. John D. Whaley plowed up the medium-sized meteorite (15 pounds). In a few days 

 thereafter Mr. Berry Cantrell, on the adjoining farm of Mr. James Beckwith, plowed up the large one (65 pounds) at 

 about 200 feet from the first one. These meteorites were carefully kept in the families of their respective finders. 



