METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 223 



HENDERSONVILLE. 



Henderson County, North Carolina. 

 Latitude 35 19 7 N., longitude 82 28' W. 

 Stone. Spherical chondrite (Cc), of Brezina. 

 Found 1901; described 1904. 

 Weight, 6 kgs. (13 Ibe.). 



This meteorite was first described by Glenn * as follows: 



In the spring of 1903, Dr. W. H. Jarman, of Nashville, added to the Jarman collection in geology at Vanderbilt 

 University a stony meteorite which had been presented to him by Capt. C. F. Toms, of Henderson ville, North Caro- 

 lina, who gives the following facts, which contain all the information obtainable as to the time, place, and circum- 

 stances of the fall or find. 



"About the year 1876, when I was quite a boy, a meteor passed over this town from east to west. My father 

 describes it as being as large as a 'wash pot,' and it appeared to break into three pieces near the spot where this piece 

 came from. It was very bright, lighting up the whole country and exploded with a great roar like a cannon. In 

 1901, Wm. Corn, a citizen living near the place, about 3 miles northwest of Henderson ville, brought this piece to us, 

 and we recognized what it was. He found it in what is known as the country home for the aged and infirm, prob- 

 ably on the land belonging to it." 



The meteorite as received at Vanderbilt University weighed 11 pounds and 6 ounces. The original weight, how- 

 ever, had been perhaps 2 pounds greater than this, as two pieces had been broken off. From one comer a large 

 piece was missing, and from another a small flake had been removed. Concerning these pieces, Capt. Toms says, 

 "The pieces broken off were used to make an assay (which has been lost), and therefore can not be had." 



The shape of the mass was somewhat cubical, though one face of the quasi cube was considerably modified by an 

 irregular portion projecting above it. The exact shape of this projecting portion can not now be ascertained, as from 

 it had been taken the larger of the two fragments already referred to. When resting on a face that may very con- 

 veniently be regarded as the base, it stands 6J inches high, is 5} inches wide and 5.5 inches thick. Its extreme diag- 

 onal length is 8 inches. The edges are all either gently or acutely rounded. A considerable portion of the surface is 

 smooth and nearly flat, while the rest of the surface is covered with irregular, shallow pittings or undulations. 



The underlying surface color is almost black, but it is generally obscured by rust-colored areas due to weathering. 

 On broken surfaces it is seen that weathering has produced a rust-colored layer a thirty -second to a sixteenth of an inch 

 thick over most of the surface. While there are no cracks in the mass, yet the interior shows that weathering influences 

 have made themselves felt, to some extent at least, through probably the entire mass. Freshly broken surfaces show 

 a very dark gray mass with many minute rust-colored specks and numerous small masses of metallic luster and either 

 a gray or a light pyritic yellow color. 



A piece weighing 1.5 pounds was removed and retained, and the rest of the mass was given in exchange to the 

 United States National Museum, and Prof. G. P. Merrill will doubtless soon publish a description of the mineralogical 

 and other characters of the stone. The fall is new and adds one more to the already considerable list of meteorites 

 known from North Carolina. 



Merrill's * account was as follows: 



All the information available concerning the fall, the finding, and general appearance of the stone here described 

 was given by Prof. L. C. Glenn more than two years ago, with the expectation at that time that the paper here given 

 would shortly follow. Through various causes the matter has been delayed until the present. 



According to Professor Glenn, the stone undoubtedly fell in or about 1876, but none of it was found until 1901. 

 The mass, as received by him, weighed 11 pounds and 6 ounces (5.17 kg.), but the original weight was considered as 

 probably some 2 pounds greater, two pieces having been broken off and used in making an assay. The total weight 

 of the original was, then, probably not far from 6 kg. The shape of the mass is shown in a plate, being the stone 

 as received by Professor Glenn. Resting on its base, the stone is very nearly cubical, the dimensions being 15.5 

 by 15 by 14 cm. It is firm and hard, without cracks, notwithstanding its long exposure, though considerably rusted 

 throughout the interior. 



In structure the stone is kugel chondritic and under the microscope presents, so far as observed, no very unusual 

 features. Two pyroxenes, enstatite and a monoclinic form, and olivine make up the silicate portion, with the usual 

 sulphides and metallic portion. The general microstructure of the stone is shown in a plate. The "kugels" of radi- 

 ating and cryptocrystalline enstatites are of a gray color and sharply differentiated from the groundmass, though usually 

 breaking with it. Chondri of the ordinary porphyritic enstatite and olivine type are common, also of the grate and 

 barred type of the latter mineral. The groundmaes consists of an aggregate of olivines, enstatites, and augites, with 

 the customary sprinkling of metallic iron. No true glass was observed. As usual, the monoclinic pyroxene is of much 

 the same general appearance as the enstatite, but readily distinguished therefrom by its inclined though low angle 

 (18-25) of extinction. The structure as a whole is much confused, a feature common to stones of this class. 



The most interesting feature is the presence of occasional small areas like that shown in a plate. This, under a 

 low power, has all the appearance of a fragment of clastic rock composed of rounded and irregular particles, all of 

 the same mineralogical nature (in this case olivine), embedded in a cement seemingly irresolvable but showing 

 polarizing points. Under as high a power as the thickness of the section warrants using this interstitial material 

 is seen to polarize faintly and to have a granular to fibrous structure. In some instances indistinct finger-like 

 prolongations extend out from the borders of the granules into the interstices. The structure is not at all that of 



