Notice of Meteoric Iron from Cambria^ N. Y. 389 



in this, Niagara County. It was found at the first ploughing of 

 the field after the farm was cleared, and brought into town and 

 sold as old iron — neither seller nor purchaser supposing it to be of 

 any more value than so much cast iron, only thinking it curious 

 that it should be found there. Dr. I. W. Smith saw it while it 

 still lay on the store floor, and immediately purchased it as a spe- 

 cimen for his cabinet ; and when the Young Men's Association 

 was organized here, he placed that with an extensive collection 

 of minerals in their rooms, where it remained until his death, 

 after which I became the purchaser, together with his collection 

 in mineralogy, and have had it in my possession ever since, until 

 I passed it to your brother. Such is its history. 



Yery respectfully yours, O. W. May, M. D. 



I subsequently purchased the entire mass of Mr. Hawkins, 

 and the accompanying figure will convey a good idea of its 

 general appearance. 





It was nearly eighteen inches in length, and its greatest breadth 

 about five and a half inches : its transverse section was rudely 

 elliptical, as may be seen by the next figure, representing its 

 internal structure, which is a faithful copy in size and outline. 

 It weighed thirty six pounds avoirdupois. The deep cavities 

 with which its surface was every where marked, were covered 

 with a pretty thick film or coating of red oxide of iron, which 

 cleaved off in scales under the knife, and the entire mass was 

 much more deeply rusted than any other meteoric iron I have 

 seen. No metallic brilliancy appeared on any part of the sur- 

 face, except where a few points had been worn by friction. In 

 hardness it was about the same as ordinary cast-steel before tem- 

 pering, perhaps rather harder. It broke with the greatest difii- 



Vol. xLViiT, No. 2— Jan. -March, 1845. 



50 



