196 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



[may 5, 



The author takes pleasure in thanking Mr. F. K. Brunner for 

 his courtesy in obtaining the information and the iron for him, 

 and Prof. F. P. Venable for furnishing the analysis. 



METEORIC IRON" FROM SUMMIT, BLOUNT COUNTY, ALABAMA. 

 BY GEORGE F. KUNZ. 



This mass of meteoric iron comes from near Summit, Blount 

 County, Alabama, latitude 33° 41', longitude 86° 25' W. of 

 Greenwich, in Fraction A, Section II., Township 10, Kange I., 

 East, where it was found by a six-year-old negro girl, who used 

 it to crack hickory-nuts. Its great weight excited some curios- 

 ity, and ^her brother sent it to Mr. St. John, of Summit, and 





Fig. 8.— Summit, Ala., Meteorite, ?» natural size, linear. 



through the courtesy of Prof. Eugene A. Smith it passed into 

 the possession of the writer. 



It measures 12.5x5x7.5 cm. (5x2x3 inches) and weighs 1 kilo 

 (2.2 pounds). (See Fig. 8.) 



This meteorite contains a large quantity of free chloride of 



Fig. 9.— Summit, Ala., Meteorite ; polished section, natural size. 



iron (lawrencite), which from time to time has formed in beads 

 on the surface. It showed only a slight trace of the original 

 crust and was almost completely oxidized; and on etching a 

 polished surface of this iron with nitric acid, no Widmanstiitten 

 figures were developed, but instead a banded appearance, as 

 shown in Fig. 9. 



