OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 229 



XV. 



CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE CHEMICAL LABORATORY OF 

 HARVARD COLLEGE. 



A NEW METEORIC IRON FROM STUTSMAN COUNTY, 

 NOpTH DAKOTA. 



By Oliver Whipple Huntington, Ph. D. 



Presented December 10, 1890. 



I LATELY received, through the kindness of Professor Alfred J. 

 Moses, of the School of Mines, Columbia College, an undescribed 

 specimen of meteoric iron of special interest. 



It was found in November or December, 1885, during the con- 

 struction of the James River Valley branch of the Northern Pacific 

 Railroad, about fifteen or twenty miles southeast of Jamestown, 

 Stutsman County, North Dakota. 



It was found by one of the workmen, who gave it to Mr. John W. 

 Gilbert, conductor of the construction train, saying he had taken it 

 out of a slanting hole within five feet of the track. It is now im- 

 possible to find the exact locality, since the road was laid through new 

 country, away from wagon roads or trails, and no particular attention 

 was given to the matter at the time. 



The specimen weighs 4,015 grams, and is of peculiar shape and 

 appearance. As is well known, most of the meteoric irons which 

 have been collected and recorded appear to be angular fragments of 

 larger original masses ; but the iron under discussion appears like a 

 thick scale or splinter, which must have been blown off from the 

 spherical surface of a large body, since the entire specimen is curved. 

 Through the centre runs quite a thick zone which gradually nar- 

 rows down to sharp edges on all sides, these edges forming, however, 

 a continuous curved outline, with no jagged points or projections, 

 as shown in Figures 1 and 2, reproduced from photographs of the 

 specimen. The greatest length of the^ splinter is 26 cm. ; greatest 

 width 13 cm., but only 3.7 cm. through the thickest central portion, 

 while the average thickness is not half as great. Furthermore, the 

 exterior shows two utterly different surfaces. The convex side, which 



