LECTURE 



ONMETEOKIC STONES. 



BY J, LAWRENCK SMITH, M. D., 



'fROr. OF CHEMISTRY IN TUE MEDICAL DEPT. OF THE CNIVEKSITY OP L01U3 VILLE, Ky. 



The class of bodies wliich form the subject of this lecture are those 

 solid masses which, from time* to time, are seen to fall from the heavens 

 to the earth, and bear the name of meteorites^ meteoric stones, or 

 aeriolites, the former not being as appropriate a name as the two last. 

 They are divided into two great classes, stony and metallic, which in 

 their turn may be subdivided. The fall of the former is much more 

 frequent than that of the latter, amounting to ninety-six per cent, of 

 those discovered. 



The masses before you are beautiful specimens of the metallic variety. 

 One of them was found near Tazewell, Claiborne county, Tennessee ; 

 the second, in Campbell county of the same State ; and the third, in 

 Coahuila, Mexico. The following is their history and description : 



1. The meteor Ic iron from Tazewell, Tennessee (Fig. 1). — This mete- 

 orite was not observed to fall, but was found in August, 1853, it doubt- 

 less having fallen at a period very much earlier than that of its dis- 

 covery. The weight of this meteorite was fifty-five pounds. It is of a 

 flattened shape, with numerous conchoidal indentations, and three 

 annular openings passing through the thickness of the mass near the 

 outer edge. Two or three places on the surface are flattened, as if other 

 portions were attached at one time, but had been rusted ofi" by a pro- 



