30 BULLETIN 149, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



. . . "Sie ist durch kleine Kugeln ausgezeichnet die aus einem 

 noch nicht bestimmten Magnesia-Silicate bestehen, und in einem fein 

 kornigen Gemenge eingemengt sind," etc. The word, with the 

 addition of the terminal e, as Chondrite, has been very generally 

 adopted, with its original meaning, by English and American writers. 

 Unfortunately, as it would seem, a further modification of the word 

 as chondros, chondrule, chondrus, or chondrum has been introduced, at 

 first apparently synonymous in meaning with "kugel" as used by 

 Rose though it is to be noted that he did not define the word quite 

 as clearly as might be desired. He wrote: ''* * * jji Bruche 

 erscheinen sie tJieils uneben theils Jasrig, im letzern Fall jedoch stets 

 nur sehr feinfasrig, indessen doch immer bestimmt erkennbar fasrig, 

 besonders unter der Lupe * * * j^jg radial, sondern immer 

 excentrisch fasrig. . . . 



No further reference is made to those of ^'uneben Bruche" and one 

 is left only to surmise that they may have been of a granular or 

 porphyritic rather than fibrous structure. The fact that Rose's 

 work was written before the day of thin sections doubtless accounts 

 for the undetermined character of the magnesian silicate. 



Tschermak in his Mikroslcopische Bescharffenheit (1885) was little 

 more explicit in his use of terms than was Rose. He wrote: "Kugel- 

 chen und uherJiaupt rundliche Eorper, welche bald aus einem einzigen 

 krystallindividuum, bald aus mehreren bestehen, ofters auch aus 

 verschiedenen Gemengtheilen zusammengestzt sind, bUden das 

 Gestein fast allein (Borkut) oder sie lagern unverletzt, ofters auch 

 zersplittert in einer lockeren bis festen Tuffmasse." Elsewhere he 

 includes all the rounded forms under the term "chondren," though 

 in his plate legends and descriptions he designates both as kugelchen, 

 thus using the two terms synonymously, 



A perusal of the literature shows that by English and American 

 writers, the terms "chondrule," "chondrus," "chondrum" or "chon- 

 dros" are now and have for some years been applied to the rounded 

 and oval granules presenting a considerable range in mineral com- 

 position and still wider range in internal structure, thus making the 

 terms synonymous with kugel or kugelchen as used by Tschermak 

 above. Of later years and as illustrated in the generally adopted 

 scheme of classification ^' there has seemed a disposition to use the 

 term kugel in a descriptive adjective sense, as "kugelchen chondrit," 

 under which name are included stones containing chondrules (or 

 chondri) having a radiate structure — the spherulitic ^^ chondrites of 

 American writers. There has thus apparently arisen in the minds of 

 many a confusion which, as it seems to the writer, has been in part 

 at least responsible for the diverse views expressed concerning the 



•' See Farrington's Meteorites, p. 200. 



" Or "globular," see Proc. Amer. Philos. See, vol. 43, 1904 (p. 238). 



