30 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



lasting about five minutes (?), which was followed, as the stone came nearer, by a hissing sound, 

 compared to that of an engine blowing off steam. When first seen in the air the stone had the 

 appearance of a black ball about the size of a man's fist. As it passed the observer "there 

 seemed to be a blue streak behind it, about 6 feet long, which tapered back to a sharp point." . 

 The stone was dug up about five minutes after striking and is said to have been too hot for 

 handling, necessitating its removal with a shovel. "The sand was hot for about 2 feet around 

 where it struck." Messrs. H. Stern & Co., of Allegan, furnished corroborative evidence. They 

 stated that the sand about the hole made by the meteor was quite warm for an hour after the 

 fall, and that the stone itself was warm when placed in their shop window, some two and a 

 half hours later. 



The stone was flat on one side, forming the base, and rose to a rounded eminence on the 

 upper side, which was probably foremost in its passage through the atmosphere, whereas the 

 broad side was first to strike the ground. That the latter is true was shown by the adherence of 

 grass stems and earth to this surface; whereas the former supposition is supported by the fact 

 that the furrows on the outer crust, due to atmospheric friction, radiated from the rounded 

 point where the crust was thinner. On the opposite side the crust was thicker, glassy, and 

 enclosed only residual portions of unfused silicates; where the crust is thickest it is blebby, 

 vesicular, and crowded with minute silicate crystals imperfectly secreted from the glassy base. 



The grass, leaves, and earthy matter on the under side were not charred and showed no 

 other indications of heat, only the black crust showed the effect of atmospheric friction. 



To the unaided eye the fractured surface of this stone shows, according to Merrill 2 , a quite 

 even granular structure of gray color, and, on closer inspection, abundant beautifully spheru- 

 litic chondri, averaging not more than 1 or 2 mm. in diameter, in two cases nearly 5 mm. These 

 beautifully spherulitic chondri are sometimes elongated or irregular, and may have pitted 

 surfaces like those seen in compressed pebbles in conglomerates. The majority of them are 

 dark gray in color, but some are greenish white. They are composed of both chrysolite and 

 enstatite. Numerous brilliant metallic points of a silver-white color indicate the presence of 

 disseminated iron. Viewed more closely the stone is seen to be made up of chondri, iron, and 

 dark gray silicates, embedded in a light gray, ashy groundmass. 



The stone is exceedingly friable, crumbling away readily between the thumb and fingers. 



Under the microscope the thin section exhibits in a very marked degree the granular 

 fragmental structure which sometimes characterizes chondritic meteorites, and which is regarded 

 by Tschermak and some other authorities as indicative of a tuffaceous origin. Three types of 

 chondri are observable: First, the ordinary enstatite chondri showing the eccentric, fan-shaped 

 structure; second, those composed of chrysolites, sometimes quite idiomorphic, developed in a 

 black glass; and, third, those which are apparently of enstatite but are almost completely 

 structureless and of a greenish-white color. 



These chondri are in most cases sharply differentiated from the groundmass and break 

 away from it so readily as almost to prevent the preparation of thin sections. Many of them are 

 fragmental and show by the condition of the fractured surfaces and the fact that the fragments 

 do not fit together that the fractures antedate the consolidation of the mass. 



The groundmass of the stone is a confused agglomerate of chrysolite and enstatite particles 

 with interspersed metallic iron, iron sulphide, and chromic iron. In no case do the silicates 

 occur with perfect crystallographic outlines, nearly all, both chrysolite and enstatite, being of 

 fragmental nature and of varying size, ranging from particles of a millimeter in diameter down to 

 the finest dust. The iron has the usual form of blebs and extremely irregular patches, serving 

 as a cement. By reflected light it shows up in strong contrast with the dull brassy yellow sul- 

 phide, which is also irregular in form, sometimes isolated, and again associated with the iron. 

 So far as observed, the sulphide never occurs in rounded blebs inclosed in the iron, as sometimes 

 happens in large masses of meteoric iron. On the other hand, the silicate minerals do thus 

 occur. Chromite in black specks is often associated with the sulphides, but does not present 

 good crystal outlines in the section. No feldspar was found in it. 



