22 BULLETIN 94, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



but quite common in small, microscopic quantities in other stones. 

 This has been regarded by Tschermak as a fused feldspar, though 

 others have considered it a distinct mineral species allied to leucite. 

 The index of refraction supports the view of Tschermak. It occurs 

 filling interstices, without form of its own, and is apparently one of 

 the last, if not the last, constituent to assume a solid condition. 



It has been shown by Messrs. Allen and others ^ of the Geophysical 

 Laboratory, that an orthorhombic pyroxene, like enstatite, may be 

 transformed into a monoclinic form by heating to a high temperature, 

 and, further, that the parallel growths of the two varieties, so char- 

 acteristic of meteorites, can be reproduced by rapidly cooling a molten 

 mass of pure magnesian silicate. The more rapid the cooling the 

 greater the preponderance of the monoclinic form. It seems prob- 

 able that further study o-f the association of the two, as seen in thin 

 sections, will lead to interesting and important developments in the 

 preterrestrial history of meteoric stones. 



EARLY RECORDS AND OPINIONS REGARDING METEORITE FALLS. 



There was at first, and very naturally, a great deal of scepticism 

 shown by both the popular and scientific minds regarding the pos- 

 sibilities of stones falling from space. So great was this scepticism 

 that, as stated by Chladni in his celebrated work published in 1819, 

 •the examples preserved in public museums were hidden or discarded, 

 the custodians fearing to make laughing-stock of themselves through 

 acquiescing in the possibility of their extra-terrestrial origin. In the 

 few early recorded cases where meteorites were seen to fall and re- 

 covered, they were regarded as objects of reverence and worship. A 

 stone which fell in ancient Phrygia in Asia Minor about 200 years 

 before Christ was worshiped as Cybele, the mother of the gods. An- 

 other, of which the history goes back to the seventh century, is still 

 preserved at Mecca where it is built into the northeast corner of the 

 Karaba and revered as one of the holiest of holy relics. The gi'eat 

 Casas Grandes iron (pi. 15), in the national collections at Wash- 

 ington, was foimd in an ancient Mexican ruin swathed with mummy 

 cloths in a manner to indicate that it was held in more than 

 ordinary veneration by the prehistoric inhabitants. Meteoric iron 

 has been found also upon a brick altar in prehistoric ruins in Ohio, 

 and it is on record that a stone weighing about a pound, which fell in 

 East Africa in 1853, was secured by the natives, anointed with oil, 

 clothed, decorated, and finally installed in a specially prepared temple. 



The earliest known undoubted meteorites still preserved are those of 

 Elbogen, Bohemia, and Ensisheim, Upper Alsace, Germany, the first 

 mentioned an iron, the second a stone. The iron was found some- 



1 Amer. Journ. Sci., vol. 22, 1906, pp. 385-438. 



