2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



meteorite as a sacred object sent from Heaven. As is well known, 

 meteorites have been worshipped in very early times, and, since this 

 identical specimen was found on an altar, it must have been highly 

 prized, if not an object of adoration. The result of the examination, 

 however, showed that the Prehistoric iron differed in some of its most 

 essential characters from all the South American specimens. It did, on 

 the contrary, resemble most strikingly the famous Siberian meteorite 

 from Medvedeva, Krasnojarsk, which has given the name of its finder, 

 Pallas, to that class of meteorites in which the iron forms a continuous 

 network enclosing grains of transparent green or yellow olivine. Not- 

 withstanding the close resemblance of the Prehistoric and Pallas irons, 

 as the localities were so widely separated, it seemed improbable that 

 they could have come from one and the same original mass. 



In 1880 a meteorite was found in Carroll County, Kentucky, and, 

 since it contained iron and olivine, it was at once described as the prob- 

 able origin of the Prehistoric mass, since no other olivine meteorite 

 had up to that time been found in this country.* The diagrams, how- 

 ever, published at that time showed that the two irons did not even 

 belong to the same class, since the Carroll County consisted of olivine 

 surrounding small masses of iron, while the Prehistoric was a true 

 jjallasite, consisting of iron enclosing olivine ; and in the further de- 

 tails of the specimens there appeared to be no resemblance whatever. 

 This fact has since been admitted ; and more recently, since some 

 very remafkable pallas irons were found in Kiowa County, Kansas, 

 these have been claimed to be the original masses from which the 

 Prehistoric came.f 



One of the Kiowa County specimens was obtained from Prof. F. W. 

 Cragin of Washburn College, Iowa, for the Harvard Cabinet. On a 

 hasty examination, the resemblance of the mass to the Prehistoric 

 iron appeared very striking. A further study, however, brought out 

 certain features which are quite unique and worthy of description, 

 and at the same time led to the conclusion that the resemblance to 

 the Prehistoric meteorite was not so remarkable as it at first ap- 

 peared ; while, on the other hand, a further comparison of the Pre- 

 histoi'ic with the Pallas iron again showed the two to be almost 

 identical, as already stated. 



The mass from the Kiowa County find now in the Harvard col- 

 lection weighs one hundred and twenty-six pounds. It has a more 



* Am. Jour. Sci., Vol XXXIII . March, 1887, p. 228. 

 T ycience, Vol. XV. No. 384, June 13, 1890, p 359. 



