.4- 



c^ 



PREFACE. 



The care with which meteorites are treasured and the value 

 they have assumed in the hands of collectors renders it desirable 

 that as full information as possible should be available regarding the 

 whereabouts of each specimen. To furnish this information in re- 

 gard to the collection of meteorites of the Field Columbian Museum 

 has been the principal object in issuing this publication. 



It is also hoped, however, that a more thorough study of the col- 

 lection will be facilitated by the Catalogue and that that portion of 

 the work called the Handbook, when used in connection with the 

 specimens, will enable any one not previously acquainted with the 

 subject to gain some knowledge of the principal characters of 

 meteorites. 



Many of the statements of this portion of the work, for which it 

 has not been practicable to give specific credit, have been drawn from 

 authors whose works are mentioned at the end of the Handbook. 



Prof. L. Fletcher's work, An Introduction to the Study of Meteor- 

 ites, edition 0/1890, has been found especially helpful and its plan of 

 arrangement is so excellent that it has been largely followed by the 

 author. 



In the difficult matter of names of meteorites and the dates of 

 their fall or find, the data given in Huntington's catalogue have, in 

 the main, been accepted as correct. 



No attempt at a plan of elaborate classification has been made, 

 as none of the present systems seem to have gained sufficient accept- 

 ance to make them authoritative. 



The divisions proposed by Maskelyne however, of derosiderites, 

 derosiderolites and aerolites have been found to form so convenient a 

 grouping that they have been followed throughout. 



Grateful acknowledgments are due Dr. C. F. Millspaugh of this 

 Museum for the generous aid he has given in preparing the photo- 

 graphs for the illustrations of the work, also to Prof. H. A. Newton 

 and Dr. O. W. Huntington for information kindly furnished. 



July is, 180J. Oliver C. Farrington. 



3 



I 1301 73 



Itolt Utt Libiruif] if html liitiq 



llknn 



