154 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 







BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1877: SMITH. Note of the recent fall of three meteoric stones in India, Missouri, and Kentucky. Amer. Journ. 



Sci., 3d ser., vol. 13, p. 243. 



2. 1877: SMITH. Amer. Journ. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 14, pp. 224-229 (analysis). 



3. 1877: KIRKWOOD. On 8 meteoric fireballs seen in the United States from July, 1876, to February, 1877. VII. The 



meteor of January 23, 1877. Amer. Philos. Soc., March 16, 1877, pp. 595-596. 



4. 1884: MEUNIER. M6t&>rites, pp. 273 and 277-278. 



5. 1885: BREZINA. Wiener Sammlung, pp. 182 and 232. 



6. 1887: HUNTINGTON. Catalogue of all recorded m6t6orites, p. 97. 



Dacotah, see Ponca Creek. 

 Dakota, see Ponca Creek. 



DALTON. 



Whitfield County, Georgia. 



Latitude 35 N., longitude 84 54' W. 



Iron. Medium octahedrite (Om) of Brezina; Caillite (type 18) of Meunier. 



Found 1860; described 1886. 



Weight: Two masses, weighing 53 and 6 kgs. (117 and 13 Ibs.). 



The first mention of the masses known as Dalton seems to have been by Smith * who simply 

 stated that he had received a meteorite from Dalton, Whitfield County, Georgia, which he would 

 shortly describe. In 1880 Brezina 2 described a fragment under the name of Dalton as follows: 



A fragment in the Vienna Museum showed moderately wide Widmannstatten figures, which in a few places, on 

 account of the abundant occurrence of schreibersite, become irregular; the toenite is tolerably broad, the plessite, on 

 account of its unusually dark color and the complete absence of ridges, is inconspicuous; in many places veins filled 

 with magnetite pass from the natural surfaces 2 or 3 cm. deep into the interior of the iron. 



A 13-pound mass from the locality was described by Hidden 3 as follows: 



This iron was discovered in 1877 on a farm about 20 miles northeast of Dalton, Georgia, near the Tennessee and 

 North Carolina State line, a region remarkable for the number of meteorites it has afforded. As has happened in 

 similar cases the specimen was locally considered to be native iron and was preserved as such until Dr. Geo. B. Little, 

 then State geologist of Georgia, visited the region in 1878 and recognizing its real nature procured it for the State 

 museum at Atlanta. 



In its complete condition this meteorite is said to have weighed 13 pounds. Its present weight is 9.75 pounds. 

 Doctor Little states that one end became detached on the way to Atlanta. The mass remaining is thin and oblong in 

 shape and much resembles a very rusty mass of ordinary iron. It is about 10 inches long and 5 inches wide and 

 varies in thickness from 1 to 1.5 inches. Its surface is very irregular and has many jagged points. It is of the usual 

 composition, with deliquescence of chloride of iron in many spots. The Widmannstatten figures are remarkably well 

 developed on this iron. 



Two years later, Shepard 4 described a mass weighing 117 pounds as follows: 



Whether the mass here described is of identical origin with that found in 1877, and described by W. Earl Hidden 

 in volume 21, No. 124, p. 287, of the American Journal of Science, is not quite certain. 



The circumstances of the finding of this meteorite are detailed in a letter of H. C. Hamilton, of Dalton, Georgia, 

 to Maj. E. Willis, of Charleston, South Carolina, under date of October 18, 1882. 



The meteorite was found some time in the year 1879 by Francis M. Anderson on his farm, on lot No. 109 in the 10th 

 district and 3d section of Whitfield County, Georgia, about 14 miles northeast of Dalton. It was discovered while 

 plowing on the west side of a ridge, near its base. The ridge runs north and south, and the furrows east and west. 

 It was lying with its apex upward, and buried about 6 inches below the surface of the ground. 



Some time during the fall of 1860, an unusual atmospheric phenomenon occurred in the region. A bright light 

 shot across the heavens, followed by a loud report, creating great alarm among the people, many of whom supposed 

 the end of the world had arrived. 



A large mass of iron, supposed to be a meteorite, was found half a mile from this one about the year 1862. It was 

 sent to Cleveland, Tennessee, where it appears to have been lost sight of. 



The mass now described belongs to the meteoric collection of C. U. Shepard, jr., of Charleston, South Carolina. 

 It weighs 117 pounds. 



Its shape is somewhat that of a pear whose apex is slightly trihedral. The surface is nearly black and very little 

 oxidized. It is destitute of deep indentations, and presents a surface with only faint, wavelike depressions. 



It is more easily divided with the saw than most irons, owing to the absence of pyritic veins and kernels. When 

 broken across a thickness of one-eighth of an inch, it presents a coarse, but highly uniform, granular structure, and 



