2 PROCEEDINGS OP^ THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.63. 



It would seem strange that the iron had not excited more than pass- 

 ing notice by the native builders, but, as stated, there is nothing to 

 indicate that it received other attention than that given to the Cre- 

 taceous fossiliferous limestone and sandstone fragments with which 

 it was commingled. There is, however, a singular lack of evidence to 

 show that the early American, even down to the modern Indian, real- 

 ized the possible uses of metal, although quick to discriminate in the 

 character of stone selected from which to make his weapons or ar- 

 ticles for domestic use. The writer has elsewhere ^ called attention 

 to the abundant small, sharp-edged thin flakes of meteoric iron found 

 lying on the surface in the vicinit}' of the Canon Diablo crater. Many 

 of these w^ould seem to have been admirably adapted even in their 

 natural condition to cutting and scraping purposes or even to 

 weapons, but thus far there has not been put on record a single case 

 of such usage. That the fall was an ancient one is beyond question, 

 yet through all the hundreds of subsequent years the material has 

 been ignored, if not wholly overlooked. 



2. SAVANNAH, HARDIN COUNTY, TENN/ 



The meteoric iron figured and described in the following pages 

 was brought to my attention by Prof. Wilbur A. Nelson, State 

 geologist of Tennessee, who I'eports that it was found by Messrs. 

 C. D. Wright and M. W. Spencer while working on the road forming 

 the main highway between Savannah and Cerro Gordo in Hardin 

 County and some 4 miles northeast of tlie first-named town. The 

 mass was brought to the survey office of the State geologist under the 

 supposition that it was an iron ore, and there identified. In the 

 autumn of the present year it was sent to the National Museum, where 

 it has been cut along its greatest diameter and etched and portions 

 submitted for analysis with results given below. 



As found the iron is in form of a rough, somewhat flattened, dumb- 

 bell-shaped mass (see pi. 2) greatl}' oxidized on the exterior surface. 

 Its maximum dimensions were 143.5 by 25.5 by 16.5 cm. and its 

 weight some 60 kilograms (135 pounds). Neither dimensions nor 

 weight can be given accurately', as small fragments of oxidized mate- 

 rial Avere continuall}' scaling away. 



An etched surface shows the iron to be, with the exception noted 

 later, a normal coarse ochtahedrite but much pitted by oxidation, 

 which has so deeply penetrated the mass as to greatly weaken it and 

 render it liable to fracture through the middle or most constricted 

 portion. The kamacite bands are quite variable, being at times of 



" Contributions to the Study of the Canon Diablo Meteorite, Smithsonian Misc. Coll.. 

 vol. 50, pt. 2. 1907. Note particularly pi. 21. 

 "Museum Cataroguo, No. 706. 



