RECENT ADDITIONS TO METEORITES 247 



as found hut also its internal crystalline structure. We also polished the 

 opposing surface of the cast iron reproduction and treated it with dilute 

 nitric acid in the same manner as the meteorite itself had heen treated, 

 in order to bring out the fact that artificial iron does not possess the 

 crystalline structure which is so characteristic of the other. A natural 

 depression fortunately pierced the upper half of our cast and gave us an 

 ideal way of introducing an electric light to enable visitors to see clearly 

 the Widmanstatten lines of the meteorite and the amorphous character 

 of the cast iron. 



The meteorite takes its name from the little village of Gibeon whose 

 geographical position is about 25° 8' South latitude and 17° 50' East 

 longitude in the eastern part of Great Namaqua Land, in German 

 southwest Africa, the home of the Hottentot. Two other famous iron 

 meteorites have been foiuid within a radius of 125 miles of Gibeon: 

 Mukerop, of which there is a fine slice in the Ward-Coonley collection 

 of meteorites, now in our Hall of Geolog}', and Lion River, which 

 came from near the hamlet of Bethany and is represented by a small 

 part of a slice in our general series. The latter has been known for 

 more than half a century, ha\ing been described by Prof. C. U. 

 Shepard in 1856. The former has come to public notice more recently. 

 It resembles Gibeon in crystalline structure so closely that some authori- 

 ties have been incHned to consider them parts of the same fall. Lion 

 River, however, is entirely distinct in character. 



]\Iodoc is an aerolite or stony meteorite that was seen to fall near the 

 town of ]\Iodoc, Scott County, Kansas, and the occurrence is described 

 by ]Mr. J- K. Freed, an eyewitness of the fall and the finder of our 

 specimen, as follows: 



"The meteorite a])i)pared as a ball of fire in the west September 2, 1905, 

 at 10 o'clock in the evening, the sky being cloudless and the clear atmosphere 

 of the plains being imdisturbed by wind. From Scott City to Syracuse, 

 75 miles southwest, it was light enough to read common newspaper print on 

 the street and the ex])losions rattled doors and windows. The mass ex- 

 ploded, and then the resulting fragments exploded several times in rapid 

 succession. The fragments gleamed brightly at first hut their light went out 

 almost immediately after the explosions. Then came the sounds of the 

 explosions, the whistling like bullets or heavy hail of the smaller fragments 

 and a most intense hunnaing like that of a rapidly revolving cylinder of some 

 heavy machine, evidently caused by the larger mass. This was followed by 



