150 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XTTT. 



CROSS ROADS. 







Boyett, Cross Eoads Township, Wilson County, North Carolina. 



Latitude 35 4<X N., longitude 78 5' W. 



Stone. Gray chondrite (Cg) of Brezina; Chantonnite (type 42) of Meunier. 



Fell 5 a. m., May 24, 1892; described 1893. 



Weight, 161 grains (5 ozs.). 



Howell * describes this as 



a, email aerolite which fell about 5 o'clock in the morning on May 24, 1892, in the township of Cross Roads, Wilson 

 County, North Carolina. It was seen by a young man named Gray Bass, who was only about 200 feet distant. He 

 seems to have been frightened by the sight and sound and waited two or three hours before going to the spot. He dug 

 it up from the ground where it had embedded itself about 4 or 5 inches in compact sodded earth close by a roadbed. 

 The finder states that the grass near the spot was dead and looked as if it had been killed by fire. He thought it came 

 from the northwest. It was, however, heard by others as far as 18 miles in the opposite direction, i. e., southeast. 

 Among those who heard it was a colored boy a quarter of a mile to the southeast, and Micajah Hales 4 to 6 miles to the 

 southeast, who describes the noise as "somewhat like thunder accompanied by lesser sounds like the report of pistols 

 or the snapping of burning reeds." Another man, Edward S. Dees, distant 5 or 6 miles nearly south, who was in an 

 open field some time before sunrise, heard a peculiar noise which lasted a quarter of a minute and sounded like "a 

 freight train crossing a trellis," and thought that the noise came from the southwest. William B. Scott, about 18 miles 

 to the southeast, says that before sunrise on May 24 he and a neighbor heard a noise "something like a skyrocket but 

 more like thunder, which went off in a northern direction." 



The stone now weighs 157 grams and would probably have weighed 200 grams if it had reached the earth unbroken. 

 The thick even crust indicates that it was a complete individual and not one of a shower. The fresh fractured surface 

 is of the usual gray color and the structure is chondritic. The stone measures 1 by 2 by 2.5 inches. 



Specific gravity, 3.67. This is somewhat greater than most meteorites of this class, indicating a little more iron. 



The stone is distributed. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1893: HOWRLL. Cross Roads Meteorite. Amer. Journ. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 46, p. 67. (Illustration of stone.) 



Crow Creek. See Silver Crown. 



CUBA. 



Eastern portion of the Island of Cuba, West Indies. 

 Latitude 21 N., longitude 77 W, approximately. 

 Medium octahedrite (Om), of Brezina. 

 Described 1872. 

 Weight: Madrid mass, 1,329 grams (3 Ibs.). 



Little is known of this meteorite except the description given by Solano y Eulate * in 

 1872. A translation of his account follows : 



Coming from the eastern department of the island of Cuba, there is in the cabinet of natural history in Madrid, 

 without other details concerning its origin, an example of meteoric iron, weighing 1,327 grams, which, belonging to 

 Spanish territory and no aerolite of that colony having been hitherto described, I consider it worth while to describe. 

 The considerable number of meteoric irons found in the United States which is at so short a distance from the above- 

 mentioned island, makes it easy to understand the discovery there of a meteorite of this species, there being sufficient 

 motives to suspect the existence of others even though not discovered. 



The specimen which forms the subject of this sketch is an incomplete aerolite, as appears to be indicated by the 

 fragmentary aspect of one part of its surface. It presents the form of a segment of a ring raised and uneven in the 

 narrowest part, rounded and attenuated in the widest, resulting that its transverse section is approximately triangular. 

 The surface of its upper and lower faces is undulating, as is that of all meteoric irons and stones, and recalls, although 

 roughly, the impressions which the fingers leave upon a pasty substance. The circumstance that the other surfaces 

 lack this characteristic proves that the specimen is only part of an aerolite which must have broken after the cooling 

 of its external coat. This constitutes a most delicate crust of iron rust, arising probably from the oxidizing action of 

 the atmosphere. 



Its structure is granular, presenting numerous irregular pittings unevenly distributed in the mass, due perhaps 

 to the fusion of the troilite. The luster of the natural surface is lively and is notably increased by polishing. Its 

 hardness is extraordinary. It scratches glass and may be represented by 6.9; that is, very little below that of quartz 

 a noteworthy circumstance. 



