278 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OP SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



crust), having a total weight of 1,184 pounds. The meteorite of Long Island is a compact, dark stone which appears 

 dark green on fresh fracture and shows numerous metallic specks. The crystalline structure is megascopically visible; 

 there are numerous shining cleavage surfaces and the meteorite resembles the fine-grained harzburgite from Riddles, 

 Oregon. Chondri are only now and then to be seen. Under the microscope it is clearly seen that chrysolite and 

 bronzite are the characteristic ingredients. The structure as well as the relations in quantity of the two constituents 

 are very variable, the chrysolite now being in excess and now again the pyroxene, and the general porphyritic struc- 

 ture passes commonly enough over to a purely granular one. Chondruslike forms are found throughout, but they are 

 seldom developed in an especially characteristic way. Ragged particles of metallic iron, numerous grains of iron sul- 

 phide (troilite?), and chromite complete its composition. The chrysolite occurs generally in porphyritic, more or 

 less idiomorphic crystals, and in fragments. In the fresh condition it is colorless, but on slight heating it becomes 

 reddish brown and pleochroic, and at red heat completely opaque, indicating a high content of iron. The cleavage of 

 the mineral is always clearly developed, and this shows in many cases undulatory extinction. It is very rich in 

 inclusions, generally appearing as dark-brown rounded forms which often show regular arrangement. In the weathered 

 portions there occurs, besides iron hydroxide, a serpentinelike substance as an alteration product of the chrysolite. 

 The orthorhombic pyroxene is likewise colorless and transparent and may be classed as bronzite. It tends to form 

 groups of larger individuals where the stone has granular structure; in smaller crystals it occurs also as a constituent 

 of the groundmass in the porphyritic forms. Its distribution in the stone can best be seen if a section is treated with 

 hydrochloric acid. This dissolves out the chrysolite but leaves the pyroxene unattacked. In sections so treated it 

 can especially well be seen that the bronzite where it occurs as a constituent of the groundmass often exhibits skeleton 

 growths which lie embedded in a colorless substance and are not attacked by hydrochloric acid. This has weak refrac- 

 tion and between crossed nicols shows irregular illumination, so that it is not improbable that it is a glassy substance 

 possessing optical anomalies through strains. Rarely, besides the orthorhombic pyroxene there is to be seen a mono- 

 clinic augite in single grains, with the properties of diallage. The solid iron occurs in angular particles and often in 

 zonal growths with chromite, which also occurs alone, widely distributed in the stone. The little grains of the latter 

 mineral appear brown, translucent. Also pyrrhotite (magnetkies) is present in considerable quantity and generally in 

 large individuals. The structure of the whole stone indicates a cooling from a fused liquid, a view also supported by 

 the porphyritic crystals of chrysolite and the skeletons of bronzite in the colorless base. There is no trace of breccia 

 structure and the occurrence of few well-defined chondri gives no further proof. As has been often observed in meteor- 

 ites, the whole stone has much more the character of a suddenly cooled mass, a character which is also indicated by the 

 undulatory extinction of the chrysolite, the skeleton growths of pyroxene, and the sudden variations in composition. 

 The Long Island meteorite in mineralogical character belongs to the harzburgites. If among terrestrial rocks we look 

 for masses which in a structural and mineralogical way can be compared to the Long Island meteorite, it will be found 

 that the number is a very limited one for the reason that rocks of similar composition have suffered in most cases much 

 decomposition, by which their structure becomes indeterminable. But, at all events, it seems probable from the few- 

 observations on, for example, the terrestrial basalts of Greenland, that similar structures as they are here observed. 

 and in many other meteorites are formations characteristic of cooled rocks in which silicate of magnesia plays an im- 

 portant part, and that no grounds are given for the belief that formations of this kind in any of the terrestrial rocks 

 have originated in any different way. 



i - In 1902 a full description of the meteorite was given by Farrington, 3 as follows: 



Nearly all of this great meteorite is possessed by the Field Museum and this has been the case since the opening 

 of the institution in June, 1894, but it has never been fully described. A few lines were devoted to the meteorite and 

 a cut of it shown in the catalogue of the meteorite collection published in August, 1895. A petrographic description 

 from frgaments of the stone was also given by E. Weinschenk in 1895. 



No account of the finding of the stone seems ever to have been published, however, and there are many other 

 features which are well worthy of description. For details regarding the occurrence of the stone I am indebted to 

 Professor Williston, of the University of Kansas, and Professor Willard, of the Kansas Agricultural College. Professor 

 Williston states that a fragment of the meteorite first reached him in the fall of 1892. Professor Willard secured one 

 at about the same time. On recognizing the meteoritic nature of the fragments sent them, Professors Williston and 

 Willard at once entered upon negotiations for the purchase of the mass and soon became its possessors. The work of 

 collecting the pieces at the original locality was done by Professor Willard, and to him I am indebted for information, 

 regarding the occurrence there. 



The meteorite lay, he states, on a slope of the ordinary soil of the upland prairie region. There is no outcrop of 

 rock in the immediate vicinity and none within several miles, so far as he knows. Where there is an outcrop the rock 

 is limestone. The distribution of the pieces of the meteorite as first seen by Professor Willard was such as to indicate 

 that the mass had struck upon a slope and, its front portion being stopped, the rear portion had broken up and gone 

 ahead. The four large pieces, which are put together to make the mass shown in a cut, were together and in contact 

 at the upper end of the fall. The top of these projected about 4 inches above the soil and the lowest point to which 

 they reached was perhaps 2 feet below the surface. Beside these large pieces a quantity of smaller fragments more or 

 less embedded in the ground extended down the slope in a northwest direction for a distance of from 15 to 20 feet in 

 a gourd-shaped area which was perhaps 6 feet wide at the widest point. The location of the spot where the 

 meteorite was found is about 3 miles west of the present town of Long Island, 0.5 mile east of the west line of 



