178 



NATURE 



[December 24, 1891 



A NEW LOCALITY FOR METEORIC IRON, 

 WITH A PRELIMINARY NOTICE OF THE 

 DISCOVERY OF DIAMONDS IN THE IRON^ 



TTISTORICAL Sketch of the Discovery.— \x\. the latter 

 -f^ part of March 1891 the mining firm of N. B. Booth 

 and Co., of Albuquerque, New Mexico, received a letter 



mined by a Colorado assajer, who reported "76-8 per 

 cent, of iron, rS per cent, lead, \ ounce silver, and a trace 

 of gold. From its appearance we should take it to be a 

 furnace product." ^ 



This result was naturally not satisfactory to the mining 

 firm, and a mass weighing 40 pounds was broken into 

 several fragments with a trip hammer. One of these was 



Fi'J. I. — General appearance of meteorite. 



from fa prospector in Arizona informing them he had 

 found ^a vein of metaUic iron near Caiion Diablo, and 

 sending them at the same time a piece with the request 

 for an assay. Some time in April this piece was exa- 



' Read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 by^A. E. Foote, August 20, 1891. From the American J 07irnal of Science 

 and Arts for November 1891. 



sent to the President ot the Santa Fe Railroad, and 

 another to General Williamson, the Land Commissioner 

 of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company, in Chicago. 



' This assay was of such a remarkable character that I took the trouble to 

 stop at the city where v was made, and ask how such extraordinary results 

 were obtained. I waS informed that the lead, silver, and gold weie probably 

 the results of the materials used in making the assay. 



NO. I 156, VOL. 45] 



