THE MOUNT VERNON METEORITE. 



By Wirt Tassin, 



Assistant Curator, Dirlsion of Mineralogy. 



The meteorite here described was found on the farm of Capt. S. T. 

 Fruit, in Mount Vernon Township, about 7 miU:'s northeast of Hop- 

 kinsville, Christian County, Ky. Althouj^li J\nown for some tiiirty- 

 tive years, its meteoric origin was not suspected until 19()!2, and the 

 first published account and preliminary description was given In* Dr. 

 George P. Merrill," in the American Geologist in 1903, from which 

 the following is taken: 



Tlie meteorite, which is a pallasite, lias been known for some thirty-five years by 

 the ot'cnpant of tiie })remises, wliere it served as a convenient stone on which to 

 clean boots after crossing the muddy fields. Although recognized as of a peculiar 

 type of stone, no susj^icion of its meteoric nature was entertained, and it was only 

 when the zinc and lead mining excitement of 1902 caused a sample of it to be sent to 

 Mr. E. O. Ulrich, of the United States Geological Survey, with a request for infor- 

 mation, that its true nature became known. It is through the influence of Mr. 

 Ulrich that the specimen was obtained for the National Museum. 



Prolonged exposure has, naturally, brought al)out a great amount of oxidation 

 to the exterior portion of the material. More than that, the rough usage to which 

 the exposed portion was subjected and the breaking away of small masses by the 

 curious and the prospector, have so obscured the original form that little of value on 

 this subject can be said. The mass [Plate III], as it came to the Museum, is in the 

 form of a rude prism some 55 centimeters in height, with sides measuring 33 centi- 

 meters and 36 centimeters, respectively. Although badly oxidized, two of the sides 

 show rough pittings. The weight, as received, was 351 pounds (159.21 kilos). 



GENERAL STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION. 



A cut surface (Plate IV) shows the mass to be a pallasite of the Kras- 

 nojarsk type (Pk), consisting essentially of nickel-iron occurring in 

 cohering spongiform or reticulated masses containing olivine and 

 varying amounts of troilite, schreibersite, carbon, chromite, and law- 

 rencite. 



" Merrill, George P. A Newly-found Meteorite from Mount Vernon, Christian 

 County, Kv. American Geologist, xxxi, March, 1903, p. 156. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXVIII-No. 1392. 



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