OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 53 



the most numerous are of an asliy-gray ; here and there rounded grains 

 (the chondra of Gustav Rose) are apparent, as well as yellow or bronzy 

 grains of pyrrhotine. The grains of nickel iron are very small. The density 

 of the meteorite is 3-51. By the action of hydrogen chloride 60 per cent, 

 of the stone dissolves : this consists of olivine, nickel iron, and pyrrhotine ; 

 the residue under the microscope is found to consist of a great number of 

 crystalline grains, much acted upon by polarised light, and some of which 

 show the forms of the prism ; others show the cleavage which indicates 

 eustatite. Besides these are black grains of chromite with an octahedral 



contour. . , , . n % i • ■■ 



This stone most closely resembles those of Limerick (Adare) which 

 fell 1813, September 10th, and Ohaba, Siebenbourg, 1867, October 10th, 

 and belongs to the group of Sporadosideres and the sub-group Oligosi- 

 deres. 



1879, May 10, 5jp.m. — Estherville, Emmet Co., Iowa} 



This curious meteorite fell near Estherville in lat. 43° 30' N., long. 

 94° 60' W. within that region of the United States which has been re- 

 markable for falls of meteorites, three having fallen at Rochester in 

 Indiana, Cynthiana in Kentucky, and Warrington in Missouri, within the 

 space of a month. The phenomena attending this fall, of which a short 

 notice appeared in the Report of last year, were of the usual character, 

 but on a grander scale. It occurred about five o'clock in the afternoon of 

 May 10, 1879, with the sun shining brightly. In some places the 

 meteorite was plainly visible in its passage through the air, and looked like 

 a ball of fire with a long train of vapour or cloud of fire behind it ; and 

 one observer saw it one hundred miles from where it fell. Its course was 

 for N.W. to S.E. The sounds produced in its course are described 

 as being 'terrible' and 'indescribable,' at first louder than the loudest 

 artillery, followed by a rumbling noise, as of a train of cars crossing a 

 bridge. Two persons were within two or three hundred yards of the spots 

 where the two larger masses struck the earth. There were distinctly two 

 explosions : the first took place at a considerable height in the atmosphere, 

 and several fragments were projected to difi"erent points over an area of 

 four square miles, the largest going farthest to the east. Another explo- 

 sion occurred just before reaching the ground, and this accounts for the 

 small fragments found near the largest mass. This latter fell within 200 

 feet of a dwelling-house, at a spot where there was a hole, six feet deep, 

 filled with water. The clay at the bottom of the hole was excavated to a 

 depth of eight feet before the meteorite was reached. The second largest 

 mass penetrated blue clay to a depth of five feet, at a spot about two miles 

 distant from the first. The third of the larger masses was found on the 

 23rd February of the present year at a place four miles distant from the 

 first, in a dried-up slough. On digging a hole the stone was met with at 

 a depth of five feet. The fragments thus far obtained weigh respectively 

 437, 170, 921 28, 10|, 4 and 2 pounds. The height of the meteor is 

 calculated to have been 40 miles, and its velocity from 2 to 4 miles per 

 second. The masses are rough and knotted, like large mulberry calculi, 

 with rounded protuberances projecting from the surface on every side. 

 The black coating is not uniform, being most marked between the pro- 

 jections. These projections have sometimes a bright metallic surface, 



• J. L. Smith, Amer. Jour, of Sc, June 1880, xix. 459. 



