METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 443 



"A combination of these data shows that the line in which the various iron masses were found runs in the direction 

 of south to north with a deviation to the eastward. It was told me that farther south, from the farthest point to the 

 Hacienda Mayorazgo, even larger masses of such iron had long ago been found. The distance between the farthest 

 points between which these meteoric irons were found I did not venture to determine exactly, still it is at least 2 leagues 

 and probably more. 



"A landowner of several years standing in the vicinity of Ixtlahuaca told me that the aforesaid iron masses were 

 first heard of a long time before through a blacksmith who had worked the iron up into plowshares and axes without 

 using steel. For a small reward he got the Indians to hunt for it for him, and he then worked it up in his shop. Iron 

 was ordinarily very dear at that time. When my brother William was traveling through this same neighborhood in 

 1824 he obtained the same information from the dwellers there and acquired at that time a piece of meteoric iron of 

 several pounds weight, which he sent to Europe . He does not know what has become of it. At present the larger as well 

 as the smaller pieces have become scarce. In the passage of the years, however, a very considerable amount may have 

 been worked up or carried away. It was brought to different places as merchandise, and it is doubtless due to this fact 

 that meteoric iron was known here and there under various names — Ixtlahuaca, Tepetitlan, Mayorazgo, Gavia, Toluca, 

 and Jiquipilco — places which all lie in the valley of Toluca, although it is always from the same identical Jiquipilco. 

 Noggerath has recently described a meteoric iron from Tejupilco, but I have no doubt that even this description origi- 

 nated from a confusion of the place names of Tejupilco and Jiquipilco. The former lies about 26 leagues southwesterly 

 from Jiquipilco and only 9 leagues westerly from Arcos, my dwelling place. It is well known to me, but I have never 

 heard anything from there to the effect that iron had been found in that vicinity. Likewise the masses of Mexican 

 meteoric iron, which came into possession of Doctor Kranz and to which he assigned three different localities, are cer- 

 tainly all from Jiquipilco. These examples originate, so far as I know, from Emil Schleiden, in Mexico, with whom in 

 former years I saw them, besides pieces and another mass about 15 pounds in weight." 



I. The 220-pound mass. — According to the measurements of Mr. Stein it had a length of 54 cm., a breadth of 34 cm., 

 and a thickness of 20 cm. The upper surface is more even than the underside, which is bellied in the middle, but 

 both had several depressions of considerable size up to 5 cm. in depth and 8 cm. in width. The entire surface is much 

 oxidized. In the 2-pound specimen which I received from Stein many yellowish scales of schreibersite with metallic 

 luster may be noted in the oxidized crust. Besides, many drops of a yellowish liquid appear upon it, which is a solu- 

 tion of iron chloride such as is observed on many other meteorites. It does not show upon the polished section surface. 

 The chlorine accordingly seems to come from outside by the oxidation of the surface. 



This iron had a coarsely foliated crystalline fracture and after polishing and etching it shows Widmannstatten 

 figures in great completeness and beauty, and with all the peculiarities so well described by Schreibers and Partsch 

 in the case of the Elbogen iron, with which these Mexican specimens have great similarity. They are of unlike char- 

 acter in different places. Frequently the bands cut one another so as to form equilateral triangles. It is not passive. 



Von Babo ie analyzed a fragment of a specimen which weighed 237 grams which, according 

 to Schleiden, of Trojes, in Mexico, "came from the neighborhood of Sizipilec, in the valley of 

 Toluca, where similar pieces were found distributed over a considerable area and are frequently 

 turned up by the Indians when plowing." His results were as follows: 



Fe 91-89 



Ni 6.32 



Co 1-58 



Mn trace 



99.79 

 Krantz " had a special search made during the year 1856 for meteorites in the Toluca region. 

 He says : 



The result was not less than 69 entire specimens of meteoric iron. It is specially interesting to note that the 

 masses are only small ones, the largest weighing only 1,725 and the smallest 58 grams. The 69 together weigh 49.5 kgs. 



The oval form prevails among these specimens as to outward shape. A spheroidal form is shown by two, a very 

 elongated stalactitic form by five, and a flat form by six. Almost all of the specimens show pittings which are so rela- 

 tively large as to give the specimens a shell-like appearance. 



With few exceptions the masses are altered upon the exterior and sometimes deep into the interior. Through this 

 alteration, in two specimens, octahedral crystals come out distinctly. 



As entirely new, however, the following were observed on several of the masses: 



1. Magnetite. — This appears sometimes in dense particles, sometimes in small, sharp, brightly glistening octa- 

 hedrons and dodecahedrons, crystallized out in drusy pittings upon the surface. Hydrous oxides were not found in 

 it, and it is accordingly not to be regarded as a secondary formation, but of actual meteoric origin. 



2. Graphite. — This occurred on three pieces in not very small dense particles, always in company with iron sul- 

 phide and penetrating deep into the interior with the latter. 



Iron sulphide in large concretions and schreibersite in thin scales occur in considerable quantity in the fresh as 

 well as the decomposed iron, being evenly distributed through the mass of the latter. 



