348 



THE MUSEUM. 



Hamilton County Meteorite. 



inches. The general form is well 

 shown in this cnt, the under side be- 

 ing smooth and less sharply pitted 

 than the upper side, which was prob- 

 ably the forward portion during the 

 latter part of its flight, but the iron 

 although a very little oxidized, shows 

 none of the characteristic striae and 

 ridges, seen in irons that have recent- 

 ly fallen. The amount of Troilite 

 found in cutting the iron is not great, 

 and seems to be all distributed in com- 

 paratively narrow plates, no Nodules 

 having been seen. The largest ex- 

 ample is six inches in length and less 

 than I inch in average thickness with 

 an unknown width of certainly over 

 2^ inches. It is quite irregular in out- 

 line, and terminates at one end in a 

 star which points about .\ inch long. 

 The Ptiquois Meteorite was secured 

 from the wife of a gentleman living at 

 Copiapa, Chils, April 26, 1889. Ac- 

 cording to the Scnora's statement it 

 was found by her husband four or five 

 years before, probably in 1884, near 

 Puquois. The iron was got to the 

 United States in absolutely perfect 

 condition. It had apparently laid for 

 a considerable time, one half buried in 

 the soil with its upper surface exposed 

 to the weather and drifting sand. 



which combined to bring out the 

 structure of the iron without oxidation 

 making an exceedingly interesting and 

 attractive object. The general form 

 of the Meteorite was such as might re- 

 sult from the wearing away of a 

 rhombic prism, one end wearing thinner 

 than the other. The surface is quite 

 smooth, showing few shallow pittings. 

 The two largest diameters are 10x5^ 

 inches and the weight 14 pounds, 'j\ 

 ounces. Although the surface of this 

 iron is unusually interesting the inter- 

 ior proves to be still more so. The 

 etched sections show that the mass 

 has been subjected to fracture and 

 dislocation resulting in the distinct and 

 undoubted "faulting" of the Wid- 

 manstatten figures and of the Troilite. 

 Most of these faults are so small and 

 fine that they cannot be seen in the 

 illustration, but in the cut of one of 

 the etched sections shown herewith 

 which is \ natural size and which was 

 produced by photographic process, 

 three of these lines of "faulting" may 

 be seen which is the especially inter- 

 esting feature of this Meteorite. 



The El Chanaralino meteorite, a 

 beautifnl siderite was found by Prof. 

 Ward in the music store of Senor Kis- 

 singer, in Valparaiso, Chili, S. A., in 



