Januabt 28, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



143 



Dr. Edmund Clark Sanford will be in- 

 stalled as president of Clark College on Feb- 

 ruary 1. 



A. H. Sutherland, Ph.D. (Chicago), of the 

 Government Hospital for the Insane at Wash- 

 ington, has been appointed instructor in psy- 

 chology in the University of Illinois. 



Dr. Issai Schur has been promoted to an 

 associate professorship of mathematics in the 

 University of Berlin. 



Dr. Ivnollee has been appointed associate 

 professor of aeronautics in the Vienna School 

 of Technology. 



Dr. Dietzius has qualified as decent for 

 aeronautics in the Berlin School of Tech- 

 nology. 



. DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



FALL OF A METEORITE IN NORWOOD, MASSACHU- 

 SETTS 



During the night between October 7 and 8, 

 1909, a meteoric stone fell to earth on the farm 

 of Mr. W. P. Nickerson, of Norwood, Mass. 

 The meteorite is a ham-shaped mass of very 

 hard gray stony material, much corrugated 

 on the surface, about two and one half feet 

 long in its greatest dimension, one foot to 

 nearly one and one half feet broad, and vary- 

 ing from one foot to one half foot in the third 

 dimension. I estimated its volume as about 

 1.75 cubic feet, its weight as perhaps 275 

 pounds, and its density as not much over 2.5. 

 The material has a flow structure, like that 

 of an ancient lava which has solidified during 

 flow, but is completely crystalline. It is, 

 therefore, entirely different from any meteor- 

 ite on record. The stone is about as hard as 

 petrosilex, and has a slight salty odor. Lam- 

 inae from 2 to 4 millimeters thick, perhaps on 

 an average 5 to 10 mm. apart, disposed in a 

 parallel order, project from the surface to the 

 extent of several millimeters, resembling in 

 this respect a much weathered piece of lam- 

 inated felsite, except that there has been no 

 chemical alteration of the superficial layer 

 such as occurs in felsitic weathering. The 

 laminse are distinctly parallel, their general 

 direction transverse to the longer axis of the 



mass. The projections, although rounded, ex- 

 hibit a remnant of crystalline form. They are 

 in fact phenocrysts of plagioclase feldspar. 

 Several small cavities, a few millimeters in 

 diameter, are recognizable, but the greater 

 part of the surface is without any pitting, 

 other than that of the normal, and everywhere 

 present, structural corrugation. 



The bolide fell vertically through the bars of 

 a gateway, breaking every bar and burying 

 itself in the sand directly underneath to a 

 depth of three feet. It was this fresh break 

 which attracted the attention of one of the 

 farmer's men in the early morning of Friday, 

 October 8. The top of the stone was about 

 six inches below the level of the surface 

 in the interior of a cavity in the ground not 

 much over a foot wide. The top of the stone 

 was still appreciably warm the following 

 morning at 7 a.m., according to Mr. Nickerson, 

 and the bottom was decidedly warm (" hot " 

 is the word used by the man who first felt it). 

 A neighbor, Miss Stuart, of Westwood, in 

 whose candor and honesty I have complete 

 confidence, arrived at the spot just after the 

 stone had been exhumed, handled its surface 

 without gloves, and declares that it was so hot 

 that she did not care to keep her hands on it 

 very long. One of Mr. Nickerson's hired men 

 independently told me the same. The mois- 

 ture in the surrounding earth had been 

 converted into steam which, in blowing off 

 during its escape, had brushed off, and thus 

 cleansed the lower surface of the meteorite — 

 the surface of impact — which was cleaner than 

 the upper surface, a fact which attracted the 

 attention and surprise of the diggers who 

 could not account for it. The sand had been 

 so thoroughly dried that it sifted back into the 

 hole as the stone was pried out, although the 

 surrounding soil of the pasture was damp. 

 The bolide passed through the bars so swiftly 

 that the rather weak side supports were not 

 injured. One hard wood bar was cut with a 

 sharp fracture. Some smaller and weaker 

 ones were more or less torn. 



It seems to me probable that when a bolide 

 succeeds in penetrating to the denser layers of 

 the atmosphere at a very low angle, the up- 



