cclviii 



March 19, 1877. 



A. Todd in the chair. 

 Eight members present. 



The following note from Mr. G. C. Broadhead was read bv the 

 Secretary : 



METEOR OF JANUARY 3, 1877. 



In Sec. 2, T. 46, R. 2 W., Warren County, Missouri, in the valley of a 

 tributary of Charette, about sunrise, whilst Wm. H. Lee, D. McLane, Wil- 

 ford Lee and John H. Hanna were grinding axes, they heard a sound at 

 first resembling a steam-whistle, approaching from a great distance in the 

 northwest, growing louder as it approached, and somewhat resembling the 

 noise produced by the passage of a cannon ball through the air. Looking 

 up they saw something strike the limb of a tree and fall with a crash to the 

 ground. Approaching the spot, about seventy-five yards from where the 

 men were, they found a mass of broken stone of unusual appearance and 

 hot enough to melt the snow and frozen ground (there was about five 

 inches of snow on the hard frozen ground). The men found the smaller 

 pieces warm, but not too warm to handle. The mass was much broken, 

 and from fragments collected it was estimated to have been about eighteen 

 inches long, sugar-loaf shaped, and weighing something less than a hun- 

 dred pounds, and having a black crust on it about one-sixteenth of an inch 

 thick. No explosion was heard. Examining the spot, I find that the bolide 

 came from the northwest crushing through the trees, breaking in two a 

 grape-vine one and a half inches in diameter, and a sugar-tree limb an inch 

 in diameter. Striking the side of a tree near the ground, a portion flew 

 oft" at right angles to the left about sixty or seventy feet, scattering many 

 small fragments about. The main mass went into the ground about four 

 inches, shivering much of it into dust, and throwing many pieces into the 

 dry gravelly bed of a stream sixty feet in front. Many very small pieces 

 were found scattered about, but searchers have picked up nearly all, includ- 

 ing those of minute size. I cannot hear that any noise was heard away 

 from the spot, or anything seen. 



G. C. Broadhead. 

 Pleasant Hill, Mo. 



Prof. Potter exhibited a few fragments of this meteorite which 

 had been sent to him. No examination of it has yet been made, 

 but it appears trachytic, with very fine metallic grains dissemi- 

 nated through it. 



H. B. Rowland, of Buffalo, and F. W. Putnam, of Salem, Mass., 

 were elected Corresponding Members. 



