:METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 441 



of meteoric iron were to be found at Toluca. But I found no such specimens there, and afterwards learned, while 

 sojourning in the mountains of Zacatecas, that it was found in the vicinity of Xiquipilco and much used there. 

 Despite all my efforts, however, it was no longer possible for me to obtain a piece of it. From the length of time dur- 

 ing which iron from this source had been sought and utilized by individuals for their own needs, and from the number 

 of specimens carried away for scientific collections; and from the fact that notwithstanding all this, new specimens 

 are continually being found, among which have been secured masses of a few ounces weight up to several hundred 

 weight, I conclude that the Xiquipilco iron must have originated from several aerolites of one and the same fall, 

 rather than from one huge one, such as would have been necessary to furnish all the meteoric iron that has been 

 obtained here. 



The Xiquipilco iron is found distributed over a considerable territory. G. A. Stein, who studied the region most 

 recently, stated that they were scattered over a strip of territory almost 3 miles long, extending in the direction of 

 northeast and southwest. They were found on the hills to the north and south of the town, sometimes in the loam 

 of the hillside, and sometimes under the rubble of the ravines, where the water is so inconsiderable that it could not 

 move the heavy meteoric iron masses. From this fact it is evident that such masses were found just where they fell. 

 Neither Sonneschmid nor Humboldt mentions the Xiquipilco iron, hence references to the accounts of the 

 former, and also to those of Partsch and Clark concerning this specimen are incorrect. Humboldt, however, knew 

 the locality in question, since there are specimens in the Berlin and Vienna collections which he brought with him. 

 The Berlin University collection contains, besides the specimens brought by Humboldt, another of almost 14 ounces 

 weight, which was sent by Gerolt. Wilhelm Stein sent specimens of the Xiquipilco iron to Europe in 1826, and later 

 G. A. Stein sent Professor Wohler another piece. This was analyzed by Uricoechea, who found schreibersite, olivine, 

 and grains of a milk-white, a clear glistening, a ruby-red, and a sky-blue mineral. Finally, Stein brought to Europe 

 a 21-pound mass and a larger piece of 233 pounds weight. This latter is 1 foot 9 inches long, 1 foot wide, and 7.5 

 inches in diameter, and was found in a small ravine by the name of Bata, half a league or a third of a mile from New 

 Xiquipilco, under the stones of the brook. It formed a flattened roller, with a few tolerably sharp edges, corners and 

 noticeable pittings. It is much oxidized upon the surface, in which troilite and schreibersite are visible. In the 

 interior this iron had a coarse foliated crystalline structure, and fine Widmannstatten figures appear upon the pol- 

 ished and etched surfaces. 



I also a short time before obtained a meteoric iron specimen from Xiquipilco of about 1 pound 6 ounces weight. 

 This is entirely without crust, and may be only a fragment of a larger mass, as it shows over its entire exterior a coarsely 

 foliated crystalline structure, such as usually is found on the fractured surface of meteoric iron. I found its specific 

 gravity to be 7.07 to 7.10, while Rummler gave the specific gravity of Xiquipilco at 7.72, and Schreibers at 7.60 to 

 7.67. This difference may be due in part at least to the fact that the Vienna specimen, which Rummler and Schreibers 

 employed, has been hammered. Krantz likewise obtained several pieces of the Toluca iron in 1854, one of which 

 came from Istlahuaca (19 pounds weight), two others of 27 and 6 pounds weight, respectively, from Hocotitlan, and the 

 last (43 pounds) from Tejupilco. These species have a more or less roundish form and are coated with a crust composed 

 in part of a substance resembling pyrosiderite, although harder, from which it may be inferred that these masses were 

 of their present size when they fell and were not broken up by the hand of man. The crust is one-eighth to one-sixth 

 inch thick, but it is still thicker and readily detachable in the case of Istlahuaca. Considerable iron sulphide is found 

 in these pieces, which may be distinguished upon the section surface by their more yellowish color compared with 

 the almost tin-white color of the iron, and by the fact that it alters quickly in the atmosphere, producing specks and 

 brown efflorescences which darken the polished and etched surfaces. On etching this iron yields fine Widmann- 

 stiitten figures in broad hatched ribbons which cross each other in three directions, forming three and four sided areas, 

 and separated from one another by small, smooth shiny threads. The latter appear quite distinctly on a well-pol- 

 ished surface of a brown or blue cast, since they appear very clearly upon the blue ground as small gold-colored lines 

 with a metallic luster, which now divide the stripes from one another, and again encircle the areas and give the sur- 

 face a very pleasing appearance. 



The specific gravity of the specimen from Istlahuaca is 7.382, that from Tejupilco 7.326. 



The locality of the first two of Doctor Rrantz 's specimens is given as Ixtlahuaca and Hocotitlan, the former on the 

 road from Mexico to Valnadolid directly on Lerma Creek, the other not far to the northeast therefrom on the eastern 

 valley slope. I visited both these places, as their situation at a slight distance from Xiquipilco was well known and is 

 marked on his map of the region accompanying his book on Mexico. The situation of the third, according to the data 

 on the label, is indicated at Tejupilco near Toluca. But both G. A. Stem and myself failed to locate such a spot. It 

 is possible that the giving of these places as localities for meteoric iron may be due to a mistake hi writing the names 

 Xiquipilco and Jiquipilco, since the large Indian village of Tejupilco lies 4 miles removed from the mining village of 

 Temascaltepec, and 15 miles south from Istlahuaca, accordingly far removed from the Toluca valley. But there ie 

 no known occurrence of meteoric iron at this place as yet, at least BO far as known to me. 



Whether the masses of meteoric iron designated by the name of Istlahuaca and Hocotitlan were actually found in 

 the vicinity of these villages, or much more probably were found by Indians from that neighborhood while hunting at 

 Xiquipilco arid were brought back to their home town and then merely purchased by those at Istlahuaca and Hoco- 

 titlan I do not venture to decide, but I think the latter is the probable fact. If the before-mentioned masses of meteoric 

 iron and all those which have been found, wrought into utensils, and carried away from the neighborhood of Xiquipilco 

 during the last 70 or 80 years all belong to one and the same aerolite, it must be one of the largest, if not the largest, 

 ever known. 



