NOTES ON THE COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF THE 

 HENDERSONVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA, METEORITE. 



By Cteorgj: P. Mp:rrill, 

 with chemical analyses \)y Wikt Tassin, 



0/ the ('. S. Xational Museinn. 



All the information av^ailable concerning- the fall, the finding, and 

 general appearance of the stone here described was giv^en b}" Prof. 

 L. C. Glenn more than two 3^ears ago," with the expectation at that 

 time that the paper here given would shortly follow. Through vari- 

 ous causes the matter has been dela3'ed until the present. 



According to Professor Glenn, the stone undoubtedly fell in or 

 about 1876, but none of it was found until 19()1. The mass, as 

 received by him, weighed 11 pounds and 6 ounces (.5.17 kilograms), but 

 the original weight was considered as probably some 2 pounds greater, 

 two pieces having been ])roken off and used in making an assay. 

 The total weight of the original was, then, probably not far from (I 

 kilograms. The shape of the mass is shown in Plate VIII, tig. 1, 

 being the stone as received by Professor Glenn, and tig. :i that of the 

 portion secured for the U. S. National Museum (Cat. No. 85264). 

 Resting on its base, the stone is very nearly cubical, the dimensions 

 being 15.5 cm. by 15 cm. by 14 cm. It is firm and hard, without 

 cracks, notwithstanding its long exposure, though consideral>ly rusted 

 throughout the interior. 



In structure the stone is kugel chondritic and under the microscope 

 presents, so far as observed, no very unusual features. Two pyrox- 

 enes, enstatite and a monoclinic form, and olivine make up the silicate 

 portion, with the usual sulphides and metallic portion. The general 

 microstructure of the stone is shown in tigs. 1 and 2 of Plate IX. The 

 "kugels"of radiating and cryptocrystalline enstatites are of a gray 

 color and sharply differentiated from the ground mass, though usually 

 breaking with it (hg. 1. , p. 80). Chondrules of the ordinar}' porphyritic 



"American .Journal of Science, XVJI, 1904, p. 215. 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXXII— No. 1511. 



71) 



