304 Field Columbian Museum — Geology, Vol. I. 



over this area that Preston suggests a meteoric shower might have 

 extended. But an extension of a shower over an area so large, espe- 

 cially in width, would be quite unprecedented so far as present obser- 

 vations go. It seems to me, therefore, from a consideration of 

 the probable paths, that Long Island and Prairie Dog Creek must be 

 regarded as of separate origin from Ness County, Kansada, Jerome 

 and Oakley, but that the four latter may, if only the paths are taken 

 into consideration, belong to the same fall. 



(2) The constitution and structure of the stones: On this point, 

 unfortunately, little evidence is as yet at hand. As Preston remarks, 

 the six finds are megascopically very similar. They are v all about 

 equally oxidized and coated with carbonate of lime, indicating that 

 they have lain about the same length of time in the soil, and are all of 

 compact texture and possess about the same quantity of metallic 

 grains except Oakley, which contains much more metal than the 

 others. The crust of the large stones is, however, thin and dark- 

 brown in color while that of the small stones (Ness County) is, except 

 Wellmanville, so far as I am able to learn, thick and black. This 

 would indicate some difference in the character of the stones, but per- 

 haps not sufficient to warrant considering them different falls. 



From the point of view of structure, Weinschenk states that 

 Prairie Dog Creek is sharply distinguished from Long Island*, for in 

 Prairie Dog Creek the chondri are very numerous and make up the 

 greater part of the stone, while in Long Island the chondri are obscure 

 and the structure has a marked crystalline character. Taking into 

 consideration, therefore, their distance from the other finds and their 

 differences from each other, there seems to be good reason for regard- 

 ing Prairie Dog Creek and Long Island as separate single falls. 

 Among the remaining four, Oakley, Jerome, Kansada and Franklin- 

 ville, to which should perhaps be added Wellmanville as distinguished 

 from Franklinville, Oakley seems on the whole to possess a distin- 

 guishing character in its larger quantity of metal. According to 

 Preston's determination it contains 14.44% °f rnetalf, presumably 

 nickel-iron, while the percentage of metal (nickel-iron) in Jerome is, 

 according to Washingtonf, only 4.25%. Oakley is also of coarser 

 grain and possesses more bronzite than Ness County, as I have been 

 able to learn by comparing microscopic sections. 



Through the kindness of Dr. Washington I have also been 

 enabled to compare a section of the Jerome meteorite with sections of 

 Oakley and Ness County. Considerable differences are thus brought to 

 light which make it very improbable that Jerome belongs to either of the 



♦Tschermak's Min. u. Petr. Mitth. vol. 14, p. 474. 

 \Loc. cit. 



