NEW ACCESSIONS OF METEORITES 



Bji Fjhiiiutd Otis Hovey 



THROUGH the generosity of Mr. J. P. Morgan, Jr., the Mu.seum 

 secured recently the collection.s of minerals and meteorites left by 

 the late Stratford C. H. Bailey of Oscawana-on-Hudson. Mr. 

 Bailey was an indefatigable collector for many years and he assembled 

 representatives of nearly three hundred falls and finds of meteorites. At 

 least twenty-two of these are new to the Museum's already great collection. 

 The gem of the collection is the aerolite or stone meteorite known as Tom- 

 hannock. This is a small mass weighing about three and one quarter 

 pounds, but it is nine-tenths of the entire stone that was found in 1863 on 

 Tomhannock Creek in Rensselaer County not far from Troy, New York. 

 It was first described by Mr. Bailey in 1SS7 and was always highly prized 

 by him and other collectors. 



Almost equally valualile from a scientific point of view, is the little 

 fragment which forms practically the whole of the known residue of the 

 aerolite Bethlehem which was seen to fall in the town of that name near 

 Albany, New York, on August 11, 1S59. The original size of this mass was 

 only that of a "pigeon's egg" and the present fragment weighs but one- 

 tenth of an ounce. The special interest of the fall lies in the fact that it 

 occurred during an "August shower" of shooting stars. 



Besides the two stone meteorites just mentioned, three irons have been 

 described from New York State, namely: Burlington, Otsego County, the 

 largest fragment of which (1528 grams) is in the Shepard collection at 

 Washington, I). C; Cambria, Niagara County, the largest portion of which 

 (5239 grams) is in the British Museum, London; and Seneca Falls, Seneca 

 County, the chief piece (820 grams) of which is in the Imperial Museum, 

 Vienna. Of these, Burlington is represented in the Bailey collection by a 

 slice weighing 25 grams and Cambria by one of 34 grams weight. Inasmuch 

 as the Museum already possessed 44 grams of Seneca Falls, besides frag- 

 ments of the other two irons, we now ha\"e all the known New York meteo- 

 rites represented in our collection. 



Another choice addition that was received with this collection is a 

 polished slice weighing 908 grams of the N'Gourema, Africa, iron. This 

 meteorite fell June 15, 1900, and is particularly valuable because only nine 

 iron meteorites are known whose fall was seen. 



Among other desired specimens likewise coming witii the Baile\- col- 

 lection are a 735-gram slice of the Jamestown, North Dakota, iron: a 

 485-gram slice of the Smith's Mountain, North Carolina, iron; a 48-gram 

 fragment of Tabory, Russia, a stone that was seen to fall August 30, 1877, 

 and a 10-gram fragment of Ploschkowitz, Bohemia, a stone that fell 

 June 22, 1723. 



