A HERETOFORE UNDESCRIBED STONY METEORITE 

 FROM THOMSON, McDUFFIE COUNTY, GEORGIA 



By GEORGE P. MERRILL 

 Head Curator, Department of Geology, U. S. National Museum 



With Two Plates 



Through the courtesy of Mr. George H. Plant, of Macon, Georgia, 

 the National Museum has recently come into possession of a here- 

 tofore undescribed and, except locally, evidently unknown stony 

 meteorite. The history of the stone, owing to the length of time 

 it has laid in private collections, is unfortunately somewhat obscure. 

 In a letter from B. F. Wilson to Mr. I. C. Plant, dated November 

 26, 1888, it is stated, "The stone sent you was picked up by the 

 undersigned on October 15th. It was on the place of Mrs. M. A, 

 Wilson, in McDuffie county, four miles south of Thomson. It fell 

 within thirty yards of where the writer was at work." Nothing is 

 said in the letter regarding the time of day, and only the natural 

 inference can be made that it was some time between sunrise and 

 sunset. As Mr. Wilson is now dead, letters were written to the 

 office of the local newspaper and to the postmaster at Thomson. 

 Only the latter replied, stating that Mr. Wilson was picking cotton 

 at the time, and his first impression was that some one had "thrown 

 a huge stone at his head." He then noticed "where the meteorite 

 fell, some thirty steps away. It was buried some six or eight inches 

 in the earth and he dug it up with a spade. Only one stone fell." 



The meteorite as it reached the Museum was in a good state of 

 preservation when all is considered. The two views, natural size, 

 on plate LVii, show its appearance better than can any detailed de- 

 scription. The black crust had been knocked oflF some of the more 

 exposed edges, but the fractured surface shown at the bottom, in 

 figure 2, was very thinly and indistinctly coated with a black glass, 

 showing that the breaking took place not long before the stone 

 reached the ground. The cru>t over the main portion is thin, slightly 

 rough, dull and lustreleoi, indicating at once a nearly feldspar-free 

 stone of the olivine-pyroxene type, and such it proves to be. No- 

 where on its surface are there flutings and pittings such as to indi- 

 cate its orientation during flight, but the crust is apparently a trifle 



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