Meteoric Iron from Tennessee and Alabama. 341 
Meteoric Iron from De Kalb County, Tenn. 
Nothing is known respecting the fall of this iron. The first 
knowledge that I received of it, was from the Hon. Judge Brown 
of Nashville. I went immediately to the place where it had 
been discovered. It had then already changed owners, and I found 
it in the possession of the son of the person that found it by 
ploughing, who lives near the mouth of the Cany Fork. I could 
hardly persuade this person to give me a view of it, and he did 
not form avery favorable opinion of my honesty when I told 
him that it was iron, and particularly when I spoke of purchas- 
ing it; all the answer that I could get was, “Iron, you say! I 
have lived too long to be cheated in this way.” It was immedi- 
ately locked up, and I had to depart without it. It afterwards 
passed through several hands, and at last the idea of its being 
any thing else than iron being abandoned, I was enabled to pur- 
chase it from a gun-smith, now living about 10 miles from Nash- 
ville. 
‘Only one piece of it was discovered. Its weight when it came 
into my possession was about 36 pounds. Its original weight 
must have been greater, as several chips had been cut from the 
surface, by which the blacksmiths and silversmiths found out that 
it was not gold or silver. 
When I first saw the mass, it had an ochrey-brown glossy sur- 
face, but the least scraping with an iron tool brought the natural 
iron color to light, so that it was not covered with acrust. It 
had an irregular oval shape. 
This iron is remarkable for its Widmannstattian or crystalline 
figures, which are handsomely displayed on the section, without 
its being subjected to any chemical operation.* These figures 
are shown on the polished surface by the section of laminze which 
are imbedded through the whole mass of iron. These lamine 
are easily distinguished from the rest of the mass by their color, 
which is almost silver white; they are harder and receive a 
brighter polish than the bulk of the mass. When these laminz 
are cut parallel to their planes, or nearly so, they exhibit only 
irregular spots, but where they are cut transversely, though irreg- 
* These figures are produced by the action of acids, by which the more soluble 
part of iron is dissolved, while the less soluble part shows itself in relief upon the 
surface. 
Vol. xxix, No. 2.—July-Sept. 1845. 44 
