1905.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 885 



southern rim, and by the fact that this material is much more com- 

 minuted than similar material elsewhere on the rim, and by the further 

 fact that on this portion of the rim alone do we find fragments of the 

 yellow and red sandstone, which we know to be from the deepest 

 strata of which fragments have been expelled from the crater. This 

 theory is still further borne out by the fact that most of the shale balls 

 and smaller meteoric iron specimens have been found on the northern 

 rim, which position they would occupy if they fell slightly behind the 

 meteor itself, and yielded more than it did to the retarding effect of 

 the earth's atmosphere and to the force of gravity. 



In using the words "northern" and "southern" in the above con- 

 nection, I mean by "northern" any direction between northwest and 

 northeast; and by "southern" any direction between southeast and 

 southwest. However, the direction from which the meteor came is a 

 matter which is not as yet susceptible of positive proof and is of prob- 

 ably small importance at this time. 



To summarize, we believe we have proved the following facts : 



First. That a great meteor, the whole or at least the outside of 

 which was metallic in nature, did fall to the earth at this locality, and 

 that it was so large that portions of it became fused and were detached. 



Second. That this great hole in the upper strata of the Aubrey 

 formation was made at the instant of time when this meteor fell upon 

 this exact spot. Having proved these facts, the conclusion is unavoid- 

 able that this hole, which as we have seen cannot have been produced 

 by a .volcano or by a steam explosion, was produced by the impact of 

 the meteor, which, even admitting that it retained some large pro- 

 portion of its planetary speed, must have been of great size. 



Having proved these facts, and having been prevented by wet 

 silica, a material very difficult to penetrate with a shaft, from sink- 

 ing with a horse-whim to a depth of more than 200 feet, we put 

 down a number of drill holes in the hope of finding evidence of the 

 meteor beneath the central plain in the crater, using the ordinary 

 type of rotary well-boring machinery. Several of these drill holes 

 encountered obstructions, at least one (and probably more) of which 

 would seem to be meteoric, inasmuch as a magnet put down at the time 

 was strongly attracted to the obstructing object and brought up from 

 it material which assayed four-tenths of one per cent, of nickel. We 

 were unable to force the drill past this obstruction. In another hole 

 the extreme depth of 1.020 feet was reached. In this, however, over 

 100 feet of red sandstone (the Red Beds above referred to) was pene- 

 trated. This seemed to be in place and to form the floor of what, 



