494 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [vol. SO 



miles per second would, if all the equivalent energy were converted 

 into heat and all stored in the mass of the falling body, suffice to 

 raise its temperature, supposing it to consist of ordinary volcanic 

 rock, through 3,500 degrees of the Fahrenheit scale, or within 400 

 degrees of -the temperature necessary to fuse quartz. How far these 

 results are applicable to the case in hand is problematical, since, as 

 Huxley has remarked, "what one gets out of the mathematical mill 

 will depend upon what is put in it," and in this particular case both 

 the size and velocity of the body must be assumed, and to a certain ex- 

 tent its composition as well. We have, however, unquestionable proof 

 of a force of impact sufficient to crush a mass of limestone 300 feet 

 in thickness, which has been shown by tests on cubes of but one 

 inch in diameter to possess an average crushing strength of 12,595 

 pounds per square inch of surface, and of sandstone 500 feet in 

 thickness capable of withstanding a pressure of 6,350 pounds ; a 

 and this, too, with a production of heat equivalent to the 3,900°, 

 or fusing point of quartz, above noted. It is well-nigh impossible, 

 however, that a force so great, and applied, as is apparent, in an 

 instant of time, should not have been productive of an amount of 

 heat so vastly greater than 3,900° that its expression in figures would 

 be utterly meaningless and incomprehensible, and in the writer's 

 mind the greatest difficulty in accepting the meteoric hypothesis lies 

 in the absence of sufficient evidences of such extreme temperatures. 

 There are no volatilization products and but slight evidence of slags 

 among the products thus far brought to light. Only the fused 

 quartz remains as a tangible proof. 



The formation of the crater rim and the presence of the enormous 

 blocks of stone therein may, as above noted, be explained on either 

 the blow-out or impact hypothesis. The presence in this rim of blocks 

 of the altered sandstone, both pumiceous and of the white or "ghost," 

 variety, and the presence of the shale-ball irons embedded in the 

 heterogeneous mass of rock detritus to a depth in some cases of 

 upward of 20 feet, can not be satisfactorily accounted for on the 

 blow-out hypothesis. To explain these phenomena, the following is 

 presented : 



Hypothetical Considerations and Conclusion. — Let one conceive of 

 a spheroidal mass of meteoric iron, perhaps 500 feet in diameter, 

 falling upon the earth at a speed of 5 miles per second. The super- 

 ficial rocks are crushed and thrown back upon the plain in an 

 amount more than equal to the bulk of the meteorite. Mr. Tilgh- 



1 For these determinations I am indebted to Mr. L. W. Page, of the Bureau 

 of Roads, Department of Agriculture. 



