484 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



It remains only to inquire whether it is more probable that the Weston meteorite was a satellite of the earth or 

 a primary body moving around the sun. If the meteor had passed the earth's surface in the direction opposite to 

 that of the earth's motion, with about the relative velocity which it exhibited, then we might be compelled to con- 

 sider it a satellite of the earth. But the peculiar direction in which it moved makes it an ambiguous case. We must, 

 therefore, resort to other instances for a solution of the question. Numerous observations on meteoric fireballs which 

 were without doubt real meteorites have been made and computed. It has most generally been found that when- 

 ever they come in a direction more or less opposed to that of the earth's motion their velocity is greater than 10 miles 

 a second, which proves them to be in revolution about the sun and not about the earth. Their velocity has indeed 

 more than once exceeded 30 miles a second. It is then from analogy altogether probable that the Weston meteor 

 was a body revolving around the sun, and that if it approached the earth from the contrary direction it would have 

 been found moving with a relative velocity of not less than 40 miles a second. 



Partsch 5 described the specimens in the Vienna collection as follows: 



The groundmass shows two different colors, a dark ash gray and a bright grayish-white. These generally appear 

 in one and the same stone beside each other, though they may perhaps also alone constitute small stones. Also, the 

 fragments which we have seen are the same grayish-white and often dotted with brownish flakes of rust and others 

 dark ash-gray, showing that stones of different falls are indicated. The spherical aggregates are very noticeable in the 

 stone of Weston. They occur in great quantity and perfection but of small size, though on the darker portions they 

 are somewhat more distinguishable. Metallic iron is present in small quantity but finely scattered. Yet finer is 

 the troilite, easily seen on broken surfaces and crust with very rough and uneven lines or shimmering. This is a 

 characteristic and easily recognizable variety of meteor stone. 



Shepard 6 mentioned the occurrence of — 



mica in a single instance in small, brownish-gray, pearly scales attached to a mass of niekeliferous iron weighing 54 

 grams from the meteoric stone of Weston. 



Shepard 7 also gave a brief description of the meteorite as follows : 



Its crust is thicker than in the majority of our meteoric stones, though less perfectly continuous and well formed, 

 being rough, dull, and filled with crevices. The color is brownish-black. When broken, the interior shows occa- 

 sional joints with plumbaginous coatings. The prevailing color within is a dark pearl-gray. Scattered through the 

 mass at frequent intervals are patches of a lighter color, imparting to it a subporphyritic aspect. These lighter por- 

 tions do not consist of a perfectly homogeneous mineral, but rather of a semipulverulent substance, which is prob- 

 ably decomposing howardite. The main ingredient of the meteorite is a purplish-gray (sometimes greenish-gray) 

 mineral, in rounded grains, which appear to be olivinoid. These again are mixed with other imperfectly formed 

 grains of a lighter colored yellowish mineral (often stained by oxide of iron). This latter substance is taken for 

 howardite also. Magnetic pyrites (less abundant than in most stones) is irregularly disseminated in highly tarnished 

 grains. 



The nickel-iron is more abundant than in any meteoric stone yet described, presenting itself not only in little 

 points, but in continuous threads and veins and in oval-pitted masses, sometimes of more than 50 grams weight. One 

 of these, in my possession, strikingly resembles in shape some of the lumps of meteoric iron in their natural state. 



Reichenbach 8 gives several observations regarding Weston, as follows: 



The dark -gray meteorites, including Weston, show markings resembling a fine network of small, hackly particles 

 of iron, where present in sufficient quantity to appear, which make a network throughout the whole stone. 



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Weston is a conspicuous example of "meteorites in a meteorite," i. e., one which contains so many inclusions of 

 all sorts of crystals and other bodies as to resemble a breccia or sandstone conglomerate. 



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A small piece of Weston the size of a hazelnut, among others of the same sort, shows an appearance of having lain 

 for some time under leaves, which, however, was not the case, and it appears more or less etched about the edge. 

 Upon the exterior one can detect parallel streaks of a blackish roughness which run around it. These are evidently 

 the blackish points of its layers of formation. If one strokes them with the finger, with a somewhat soft skin, one sees 

 that these are not mere inequalities of the stony matter, but that they are sharp, needlelike projections which appear 

 under the glass as iron. Here the iron network lies open on a small scale, just as it does on a large scale in the case 

 of the Pallasites. One sees herein the part which the iron plays in the structure, although this aerolite does not 

 belong to the stones richest in iron. 



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Weston is an example of many stones with a flecked appearance, in which the greater portion of the stone is gray, 

 with sharply defined specks of a whiter color in it, or the reverse, so that the stone acquires a spotted appearance. 



In 1869 the account of the meteorite originally given by Silliman and Kingsley was repub- 

 lished in the American Journal of Science, 9 but no new data seem to have been recorded. 



