MERRILL] METEOR CRATER OE CANYON DIABLO, ARIZONA 49I 



doubtless those of bodies pursuing a retrograde course about the 

 sun. 



The evidence afforded by actual falls and impacts is extremely 

 contradictory. Thus Nordenskiold 1 states that, in the case of 

 the Hessle fall, stones so friable as to be readily broken if simply 

 thrown against a hard surface were not broken or even scarred 

 on striking the frozen ground. Stones weighing several pounds 

 which struck on ice a few inches in thickness rebounded without 

 breaking the ice or being themselves broken. The 70-pound stone 

 that fell at Allegan, Michigan, in 1899 penetrated the sandy soil to 

 a depth of about 18 inches and was itself considerably shattered. 

 Like that of Hessle, this was an unusually friable stone. It is evi- 

 dent that its speed did not exceed that of a projectile from an old- 

 time piece of heavy ordnance. The 260-pound stone that fell at 

 Ensisheim, Germany, in 1492 is reported to have buried itself to a 

 depth of 5 feet. 



The greatest depth of penetration of a meteoric stone which has 

 come under the writer's observation is that of Knyahinya, Hungary, 

 as described by Haidinger. 2 In this instance a 660-pound stone, strik- 

 ing the ground at an angle of some 27 from the vertical, penetrated 

 to a depth of eleven feet. The hole was nearly circular in outline, 

 and fragments from the interior were thrown back and scattered to a 

 distance of some 180 feet (dreiszig Klafter). The stone was found 

 broken in three pieces and the earth beneath it compacted to stony 

 hardness, but nothing in the description as given indicates that any 

 traces of metamorphism, either in the ground or mass of the stone, 

 had taken place. On the other hand, still heavier masses have been 

 found under such conditions as to lead one to infer they scarcely 

 buried themselves. 



Peary's giant Cape York iron, weighing 37^2 tons, was found only 

 partially covered ; but, as it lay on a bed of gneissic boulders, this 

 is not strange. It should be remarked, however, that an examination 

 pf the iron reveals no such abrasions of surface as might be ex- 

 pected had it fallen with a speed of miles per second, or, indeed, 

 any abrasions whatever that can be ascribed to such a cause. It is, 

 of course, possible that this fall took place when the ground was 



1 Kongl. Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar, B. 8, No. 9, 1870. 



2 Sitz. d. k. Akad. d. Wiss, II Abth. B. liv, 1866. This occurrence illustrates 

 on a small scale so perfectly what is supposed to have happened at the meteor 

 crater that I feel justified in giving here a photographic reproduction (fig. 129) 

 of page 20 of Haidinger's paper. The description, beginning with the seventh 

 line from the top, refers to figures 5 and 6. 



