METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 345 



given by Mr,. Hicks, and the time it was found by him; on the contrary, it must have lain in the position where found 

 a very long period of time in order to become thus thickly coated by the lime. 



. The larger surface of the mass showing crust is very smooth, entirely free from the customary pittings, except on 

 one edge, of a thickness of 7.5 inches, where large prominent and characteristic pittings are present. 



On slicing the meteorite we find that the groundmass is compact and grayish-black in color, more or less spotted 

 with much darker blotches or streaks, and abundantly flecked with bright iron grains. The largest of these observed 

 was 6 mm. in diameter; in the center of it is a small troilite nodule 1 mm. in diameter. On the polished surfaces num- 

 erous grains of troilite are visible, which form a strong contrast by their bronze-yellow color to the white nickelif erous 

 iron. 



The sections have also numerous fissures extending across their surfaces following somewhat the rounded outline 

 of the exterior of the sections. These fissures were probably caused by the contact with the earth's crust at the time of 

 its fall. 



By carefully powdering and repowdering 18 grams of this stone and separating the iron from the silicates by a magnet 

 we found the ratio of the metallic part to the silicates as follows: 



^ c M+:::::::::::^ 



14.44 

 Silicates... 85.56 



100.00 

 An analysis of the metallic part by Mr. J. M. Davison, of Reynolds Laboratory, gave 



Fe 89.16 



Ni... - 10.84 



100.00 



Specific gravity, 3.7. 



Dr. Geo. P. Merrill, of the United States National Museum, to whom I sent a few fragments of this stone, kindly 

 made sections of some and examined them for me. ' ' He found that the stone belongs to the chondritic olivine-enstatite 

 type, though the chondritic structure to the unaided eye is somewhat obscure, well-defined, spherical chondrules being 

 few and widely scattered. In general appearance it closely resembles the Pipe Creek, Bandera County, Texas, aerolite 

 but is of finer grain. Under the microscope it presents no features not common to aerolites of this class olivine and 

 enstatite chondrules embedded in a very irregularly granular groundmass of the same materials with numerous particles 

 of metallic iron and iron sulphides. The chondri present the characteristic barrel (or grate) and fan-shaped structures 

 and are often themselves fragmental. The structure is on the whole very obscure, and more closely resembles that of 

 Pipe Creek, as above mentioned, than any other of which we have slides. No silicate, other than olivine and enstatite, 

 could be determined in the slides, but the solution obtained by digesting the powdered stone in dilute hydrochloric 

 acid contained a trace of lime and alumina, suggesting the presence of a lime or a lime-soda feldspar." 



The stone would thus belong to the Meunier type 34, Erxl6benite. 



Its nearest prominent geographical point being Oakley. It will be designated as the Oakley meteorite (Logan County, 

 Kansas). 



The meteorite is somewhat distributed, but chiefly (8,910 grams) in the Ward-Coonley 

 collection. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1900: PBESTON. On a new meteorite from Oakley, Logan County, Kansas. Amer. Journ. Sci., 4th ser., vol. S, 

 pp. 410-412. 



Oaiaca. See Misteca. 



Old Fork. See Jennies Creek. 



Oldham County. See Lagrange. 



Ophir. See Illinois Gulch. 



OROVILLE. 



Butte County, California. 



Latitude 39 27' N., longitude 121 30' W. 



Iron. Medium octahedrite (Om) of Brezina. 



Found 1893. 



Weight, 24 kgs. (54 Ibs.). 



No description of this meteorite seems to have been published. Wulfing* notes it as 

 catalogued by Bement. 1 



The main mass was in the museum of the Academy of Sciences of San Francisco before the 

 fire of 1906. 



