286 Field Columbian Museum — Geology, Vol. I. 



ments show that they were wholly within the interior. The portion of 

 the stone to which these fragments would be attached if a complete 

 restoration of its form could be made would be that to the rear and to 

 the left of the part shown in Plate XLIII (Frontispiece) or to the 

 rear of the stone in the position in which it is shown in 

 Fig. i, Plate XLIV. As will be seen by referring to Plate XLIII 

 (Frontispiece) the portion of the stone to the right of a vertical line 

 drawn through the middle of the plate has an almost wholly natural 

 surface. Over this portion therefore the actual form of the stone is 

 preserved. The form of the stone as at present restored is, as 

 shown by the plate, roughly that of a low cone. The greatest 

 diameter of the base of the cone is 34 inches (86 cm.) and the 

 altitude from base to apex 20 inches (51 cm.) The conical form, as is 

 well known, is the typical one to which meteorites are reduced in 

 their passage through the atmosphere, from the fact that the portion 

 of the mass in front receiving the 'brunt of the friction and heat is 

 worn down rapidly to an apex from which the other portions slope 

 away. That this is the position which the Long Island stone took in 

 falling is further indicated by the smooth, unpitted character of the 

 base of the cone (Ruckseite) as compared with the pitted surface of the 

 conical portion, and further by the fact that the series of pittings 

 (piezoglypten) on the surface extend in radial directions from the apex 

 of the cone. It will be noted in the plate that the long axes of the 

 pits run in directions nearly parallel to lines drawn from the apex to 

 the base of the cone. These then were the directions of the air cur- 

 rents. The planes along which the four large fragments were sepa- 

 rated and along which they have now been joined together are not 

 courses of ordinary irregular fracture, but are definite divisive planes. 

 There are three of these planes, two being continuous each in its own 

 direction while the third may be described as made up of two planes 

 meeting at a very broad angle (160 ). The planes run in three direc- 

 tions nearly at right angles to each other. They meet, but only at 

 one point do they pass through one another. If one will conceive of 

 an apple cut in halves by a plane starting a little to one side of the 

 bloom, one of these halves then cut through equatorially in a direction 

 at right angles to the first plane by two planes starting a little above 

 the equator, but meeting at it, then the quarter nearest the bloom cut 

 through by a plane at right angles to the equatorial plane in a direc- 

 tion running from the bloom to the stem, and passing into the other- 

 wise uncut half for quite a distance, an idea will be gained pi the 

 course of the division planes of this meteorite. Their course can also 

 be seen by reference to Plate XLIV. 



