METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 387 



RUFFS MOUNTAIN. 



Lexington County, South Carolina. 



Latitude 34 16' N., longitude 81 25' W. 



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



Found 1844; described 1850. 



Weight, 53 kgs. (117 Ibs.). 



The first account of this iron was by Shepard, 1 as follows: 



We owe the discovery of the present highly interesting iron mass to Dr. Thomas Wells. From several communi- 

 cations with which I have been favored from this gentleman, I learn that he has but recently come into possession of 

 the mass, and that he is still unacquainted with the particulars of its discovery. It would appear, however, that it 

 had been until very recently lying in a neglected state, near the house of a farmer in the vicinity of the spot where it 

 was first found. 



The figure is irregular and ovoidal, being truncate at both extremities. Its greatest length is 31.5 inches, while 

 its breadth is 29.75 inches. It weighed 117 pounds. Judging from the specimen I have seen, it would appear that 

 the mass was coated with a black crust, thicker than is usual in these bodies; and accordingly the specific gravity 

 varies somewhat, as the fragments by which it was determined comprehended more or less of the coating. Two of these 

 gave 5.97 and 6.80, while portions seemingly free from the oxidated crust have 7.01 and 7.10. 



I found the following composition in a specimen of very clean turnings, obtained in making a division of the mass 

 by Doctor Wells: 



Iron 96. 000 



Nickel 3. 121 



Chromium, sulphur, cobalt, and magnesium traces 



99.121 



The etched surface upon a large slab of the mass, which has been forwarded for the inspection of the meeting by 

 Doctor Wells, shows it to be highly crystalline throughout, to belong to my sections of closely crystalline, alloyed, 

 homogeneous, malleable irons. It exhibits an etched pattern which, on the whole, more nearly resembles those of 

 the Texas, and the Carthage, Tennessee, meteoric iron ; although it presents peculiarities distinguishing it from those, 

 and from every other iron I have yet seen. It has, for instance, over much of its surface the rather broad raised spaces 

 situated between the sharp raised lines (which spaces are usually dull and black), completely filled with closely aggre- 

 gated shining polygonal areas, resembling the top figures at the extremities of basaltic columns. A few narrow gashes, 

 each about 1 inch long, of a brilliant pinchbeck red pyrites appear near one extremity of the slab. The peculiar 

 color of this sulphuret, and the manner in which it resists the action of acids, lead to the suspicion that it may prove 

 to be an hitherto unobserved species. 



The present, therefore, is the second well-authenticated discovery of meteoric iron within the State of South 

 Carolina; and both masses have been brought to light within the space of a single year. The other mass referred to 

 is that of Chester district, of which I presented a brief notice in the American Journal of Science soon after the dis- 

 covery was made. A fuller account of the same is reserved for a future occasion. Suffice it to remark here, that there 

 is no such resemblance between the two as to evince that they came from the same meteor, although they evidently 

 belong to the same section and order of meteoric irons. 



A later note on the probable date of fall was given by Shepard a as follows: 



This highly interesting mass (weight 117 pounds), first brought into notice by Dr. Thomas Wells, and described 

 by me at the Charleston meeting of this association, appears to have been one of very recent date. It was brought 

 to the office of Doctor Wells, in Columbia, in the winter of 1844, with the account that it was incidentally met with by 

 a person out upon a hunting excursion in a somewhat unfrequented place; the position of the mass being that of entire 

 isolation, upon a flat surface of rock. This circumstance, coupled with the fact that the exterior is fresh on all sides 

 and perfectly clean from the hydrated peroxide of iron, seems to justify the inference that it could not have occupied 

 this situation for any length of time; the more especially when it is observed that freshly cut portions are prone to 

 oxidation, even when carefully protected from air and moisture. 



Under the title ''Potassium in the meteoric iron of Ruffs Mountain, South Carolina," 

 Shepard s recounted an experiment with the iron as follows: 



This iron, it should here be mentioned, was not found on that part of the mountain situated in Newberry, as 

 formerly supposed, but in the contiguous county of Lexington. Having noticed a peculiarity in the manner in which 

 this iron acquires rust, even when kept in a dry air, I suspected that it proceeded in part from the oxidation of potas- 

 sium. The broad flat face of the 56-pound mass figured rusts upon one margin to the depth of nearly 2 inches, 

 and at times obviously gathers moisture, while the rest of the surface retains its dryness and polish. (The mass meas- 

 ures 8.75 inches in height and 7.5 inches horizontally across the polished face.) Turmeric paper applied to the 

 moistened spots was immediately browned. This led me to subject 2 ounces of the rusted turnings of the iron, 

 obtained in making sections of the mass, to a heat of near redness in a double crucible for half an hour, and to test 



