much of our knowledge of meteorites to 

 the studies of the Vienna collection. The 

 collection of the British Museum of Nat- 

 ural History was nearly as large — and is 

 much larger now, its growth being fa- 

 vored by the acquisition of a large num- 

 ber of stone meteorites that fell in India 

 and by the recent purchase of a portion 

 of the Nininger collection. One of these 

 Indian meteorites, Bustee, has yielded 

 two minerals, oldhamite and osbornite, 

 unknown in terrestrial mineralogy. As 

 with the Vienna collection, the curators 

 of the British Museum have been lead- 

 ing investigators, as the names of Mas- 

 kelyne, Flight, Fletcher, Prior, Spencer, 

 Campbell-Smith, and Hey will show; 

 and happily, the connection of the latter 

 two with this splendid study still con- 

 tinues. The meteorite collection of the 

 Natural History Museum of Paris is like- 

 wise extensive and it is rich in French 

 territorial meteorites. Included among 

 these is a collection of thin sections of 

 meteorites which is second to none in 

 number and quality. The names of 

 Meunier and Lacroix will be long re- 

 membered for their fruitful contribution 

 to meteoritics through researches on the 

 Paris collection. 



In the United States little was done 

 toward preserving meteorites, and many 

 of our finest specimens went to Europe. 



ably, perhaps, I felt a sense of resentment. 

 But I soon found comfort remembering 

 that we, too, possess certain meteorites 

 of unique interest and value that have 

 not fallen in United States soil. Though 

 the United States had a late start in the 

 collecting of meteorites, it rapidly made 

 up the lost ground, chiefly through the 

 generosity of donors, by exchange, and 

 by purchase. Apart from the fine, but 

 relatively smaller collections at the Uni- 

 versities of Yale, Harvard, and New Mex- 

 ico and at Amherst College, large collec- 

 tions of meteorites are today possessed 

 by the Natural History Museums in 

 Washington, New York, and Chicago. 

 Thus the opportunity for comprehensive 

 study of meteorites at these places is un- 

 rivaled. 



Of nearly 1,500 meteorites on record 

 about two-thirds are represented by 

 specimens in Chicago Natural History 

 Museum's collection. For some of the 

 falls, a fragment or section serves as the 

 representative. Many other falls are 

 represented by complete individuals, and 

 some of these are the only ones known. 

 This collection was inaugurated in 1894 

 at the founding of the Museum by pur- 

 chase of collections from George F. Kunz. 

 Eighteen years later, the private collec- 

 tion of Henry A. Ward, numbering over 

 600 falls, was added. Instrumental in 



rington, for 39 years Chief Curator of 

 the Department of Geology. His inter- 

 est in meteoritics, a name he himself 



Polished and etched section of an iron meteorite showing Widmanstaltian figures — a distin- 

 guishing character of most iron meteorites. 



I was a bit taken aback when I first saw 

 some of these superb American meteo- 

 rites in the Vienna collection and excus- 



Page 8 



this monumental acquisition, of which 

 the Museum is justly proud, was my pred- 

 ecessor, the late Oliver Cummings Far- 



One of the individuals of the L'Aigle meteorite 

 shower. The detailed report of the phenomena 

 attending this fall first established beyond 

 doubt that stones do now and then fall from 

 the sky. 



proposed, was so intense that he outdis- 

 tanced his old masters in less than a 

 decade and became one of the outstand- 

 ing figures in the field — a status which 

 he maintained until his death on No- 

 vember 2, 1933. Since then, many more 

 falls have been added to the collection 

 by exchange and purchase — the latter 

 mainly through the magnanimity of 

 President Stanley Field, whose interest 

 in the Museum's welfare has been un- 

 flagging for over half a century. 



Selected specimens from the Museum's 

 meteorite collection, showing the prin- 

 cipal kinds of meteorites and features of 

 general interest relating to these cosmic 

 bodies, are on permanent exhibit in the 

 west end of Hall 35 on the second floor 

 of the building. An interesting feature 

 of these meteorite exhibits is the display 

 of two falls — the "fall of the Benld mete- 

 orite" and the "fall of the Hamlet me- 

 teorite." Both exhibits show the path of 

 the fall and the way the meteorites have 

 struck buildings and the damage they 

 have wrought. Actual damaged mate- 

 rials have been secured and are displayed. 

 The exhibit on the fall of the Hamlet 

 meteorite, which has just been completed, 

 can be seen in Stanley Field Hall this 

 month, and, together with the meteorite 

 collection in Hall 35, is the Museum's 

 featured exhibit for November. 



PRINTED BY CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM PRESS 



