114 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



The stony portion consists of: 



Insoluble, 47.02. Soluble, 52.98. 



Silica 52.61 38.01 



Alumina 4.80 .46 



Protoxide of iron 13.21 17.51 



Magnesia 27.31 41.27 



Sulphur 1.01 



Alkalies (soda with traces of potash and lithia) 1.38 



99. 31 98. 26 



The mineralogical examination and chemical analysis indicate that the stone consists essentially of nickeliferous 

 iron, bronzite, and olivine with small particles of anorthite and enstatite. 



In his 1885 catalogue Brezina 2 describes the meteorite as follows: 



Shows deep-blue linear troilite, white fragments in a dark gray groundmass and isolated, jet black grains of the 

 size of mustard seed with very fine particles of iron scattered throughout. 



In 1895, Brezina 3 described a large- individual as follows: 



An almost uninjured monolith of 5.2 kg. in the Hidden collection has the form of a six-sided prism covered partly 

 with large pittings, partly with a very even crust, with a fractured surface in one place which shows the brecciated 

 structure of the interior. 



Meunier 4 describes a Paris specimen as follows : 



It is remarkably coherent and compact and forms an intermediate link between limerickite and stawropplite, 

 which may be regarded as the metamorphic form. 



The meteorite is distributed. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1875: SMITH. Description of the Nash County Meteorite. Amer. Journ. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 10, pp. 147-148. 



2. 1885: BREZINA. Wiener Sanunlung, pp. 183 and 233. 



3. 1895: BREZINA. Wiener Sammlung, p. 251. 



4. 1897: MEUNIER. Revision des pierres me'te'oriques, p. 81. 



CASTINE. 



Hancock County, Maine. 



Latitude 44 24' N., longitude 68 46' W. 



Stone. Veined white chondrite (Cwa) of Brezina; Luceite (type 37, subtype 2) of Meunier. 



Fell 4.15 a. m. May 20, 1848; described 1848. 



Known weight, 93 grams (3 ounces). 



Our knowledge of this meteorite is confined almost wholly to a description by Shepard. 1 

 He obtained from Rev. Daniel Sewall, of Castine, an account of the fall as follows : 



The appearance of the meteor and the attendant circumstances, so far as I have been able to gather them, may 

 be described as follows: On Saturday morning, May 20, about half past 4 in the morning, Mr. Charles Blaisdell, 

 a mechanic, who lives about a mile from the village, being out of the house at the time, noticed dark clouds, appar- 

 ently gathering from different quarters of the heavens. Soon he saw what he supposed to be a flash of lightning. 

 Presently, however, upon looking at that portion of the cloud which came from the northwest, he saw what appeared 

 like the moon in the cloud, not as at the horizon, but when high in the heavens. A sudden, sharp report like a cannon 

 was heard, followed by -a, quick succession of reports not so loud as the first, but which resembled a running fire of 

 musketry; and after these a whistling sound in the air, as of a body passing through it with great rapidity. Something 

 was seen and heard to strike the ground in the road but a little distance from the place where he was standing, which 

 proved to be the stone in question. Mr. Giles Gardiner also saw the stone strike the ground, but he did not notice the 

 meteor. I could not learn from Mr. Blaisdell that the meteor had any apparent motion, except with the cloud, before 

 the explosion. He stated that he was looking at it from 8 to 10 minutes. The report was heard by great numbers in 

 the village and elsewhere. Some saw a streak of light. 



In the same article Shepard quotes an account given by Professor Cleaveland : 



It fell at Castine, Maine, 4.15 a. m., May 20, 1848. The fall was accompanied by a noise similar to thunder, but 

 quicker and more like that of a gun. The report was distinctly heard at a distance of 30 or 40 miles from Castine. 

 A second report, resembling the discharge of muskets, was also heard. 



The stone came from the southeast, and by its fall penetrated to the depth of 2 inches into a dry, hard road. No 

 flash of light was .observed by the person who witnessed the fall, although the stone struck the earth within a few feet 

 of him. Others assert that they saw a flash. 



