416 Foreign and Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



Mr. Sparks and Captain Postian, who happened to be near some 

 negroes working in a field one mile south of this place, who disco- 

 vered a large stone descending through the air, weighing, as was 

 afterwards ascertained, thirty-six pounds. The stone was, in the 

 course of the evening or very early the next morning, recovered from 

 the spot where it fell. It had penetrated the earth two feet and a half. 

 The outside wore the appearance as if it had been in a furnace ; it 

 was covered, about the thickness of a common knife-blade, with a 

 black substance somewhat like lava that had been melted. On break- 

 ing the stone it had a strong sulphureous smell, and exhibited a 

 metallic substance resembling silver. The stone, however, when 

 broken, had a white appearance on the inside, with veins. By the 

 application of steel it would produce fire. The facts, as related, can 

 be supported by many individuals who heard the explosion and 

 rumbling noise, and saw the stone*. 



The following notice of the same event was given by Dr. Boykin, 

 in June, 1830: ' No one can tell from what direction the meteor 

 came. The first thing noticed was the report like that of a large 

 piece of ordnance ; some say the principal explosion was succeeded 

 by a number of lesser ones in quick succession, similar to the explo- 

 sions of a cracker ; one has told me the secondary noise was only a 

 reverberation. Very soon after the explosions some black people 

 heard a whizzing noise, and on looking, saw a faint "smoke" descend 

 to the ground, at which time they heard the noise produced by the 

 fall of the stone: they ran to the spot, for they saw where it fell, and 

 discovered the hole it had made in the ground, being more than two 

 feet in a hard clay soil : the negroes, and others who went early to 

 the spot, say they perceived a sulphureous smell. The stone weighed 

 thirty-six pounds ; it fell at a small angle with the horizon. 



Dr. Silliman adds, that ' having received the specimens just as 

 this number of the Journal is about being finished, I can add only the 

 following notice. The colour of the interior of the stone is of a light 

 ash-grey, and very uniform, except that it is sprinkled throughout 

 with thousands of brilliant spots of metallic iron, having very nearly 

 the colour and lustre of polished silver. The iron is rarely in points 

 larger than a small pin's head, but the points are so numerous that 

 nearly the whole of the powder of the stone is taken up by the mag- 

 net, even when it is in fine dust, and by a magnifier the little points 

 of iron can even then be seen standing out from the magnet. It 

 greatly resembles the Tennessee meteorite. It has the usual black 

 crust on certain parts, and this, although resembling a semi-fused 

 substance, exhibits bright metallic spots when a file is drawn across 

 it. A similar black crust is seen pervading the stone in some places 

 through its interior, and forming, where it is seen in a cross frac- 

 ture, black lines or veins. The stone is full of semi-fused black 

 points and ridges similar to the crust, and its entire mass seems half 

 vitrified in points, so as to resemble an imperfect glass/ 



The specific gravity, as ascertained by Mr. Shepard, is 3.37.f 

 * Elias Beall. . f Silliman's Journal, xviii., p. 388. 



