FOREWORD 



The paper here presented was written to I'orm a part of a series to 

 be issued by the Smithsonian Institution, but on completion was 

 adjudged too technical for that particular publication. Rather than 

 attempt its popularization the author withdrew it, substituting in 

 its place a few pages of more easily comprehended generalities. 

 Since then, on considering the matter, and in view of the fact that 

 there is nothing in English covering the same ground, it has been 

 thought advisable to further elaborate and publish as here presented. 

 Students of meteorites in America are at this moment not too 

 abundant, and anything that will excite interest, or be of help, is 

 surely worthy of publication. 



That many of the views expressed are the author's own, and per- 

 haps not generally accepted, is recognized. It is thought, however, 

 that this is made sufficiently clear to avoid any misunderstanding.^ 



[Owing to the sudden death of Dr. George P. Merrill in Auburn, 

 Me., on August 15, 1929, while on his summer vacation, he never saw 

 the proof of this bulletin. This fact will serve as an explanation for 

 any scientific errors that may be found in the text, and conspicuously 

 the references to the plates, wliich would have been more ample, had 

 he seen the reproductions after they had been made. 



A copy of his latest photograph has been inserted in this bulletin 

 as a frontispiece. — Editor.] 



» For a general treatise on the subject the reader is referred to Meteorites, by Dr. O. C. Farrington, 

 Chicago, 1915. 



in 



