290 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 379 



and the living, ratber tban of the didactic and the transcen- 

 dental, that he is perennial and immortal. 



Appleton Morgan. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*** Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. Tlte writer's name 

 is in all cases required as proof of good fa ith. 



The editor will be glad to publish any queries consonant with the character 

 of the journal. 



On request^ twenty copies of the number containing his communication will 

 be furnished free to any correspondent. 



Kiowa County, Kan., Meteorites. 



A REMARKABLE fall of meteorites of unknown date in Kiowa 

 County, Kan., has recently been brought to the knowledge of the 

 scientific world. Many of the citizens of Greensburgh, the county 

 seat, were aware of the existence of these strange irons, and 

 commonly called them meteoric ; but there seems to have heen 

 no suspicion of their true character and value. Indeed, imtil the 

 17th of March, 1890, a specimen weighing 1(11.5 pounds had orna- 

 mented the sidewalk in front of a real estate office in the above- 

 named town for about three years. The farmers in the vicinity 

 of the locality where the fnll had occurred had put some of the 

 specimens to various uses 



They were first observed by cowboys, long before that portion 

 of Kansas was open to .settlement, while it was still a portion of 

 the unrestricted cattle-range of western Kansas. The specimen 

 before referred to, with two others of somewhat smaller size, had 

 been removed from its original location by a cowboy, and buried 

 at tbe head of a gulch about a mile distant. The cowboy had in- 

 tended to carry the irons to Green's stage station, about eight 

 miles distant, but was unable to transport soheavy a weight upon 

 his pony. This was in 1885. The town of Greensburgh was laid 

 out in that year, before the close of which the cowboy was taken 

 sick, and died. Before his death, however, he informed two or 

 three citizens of Greensburgh of his buiial of the three strange 

 stones. These citizens, about a year later, searched for and found 

 the meteorites, bringing them in to Greensburgh. 



Professor F. W. Cragin of Washburn College was the first 

 scientific man who visited the farm upon which these masses had 

 fallen, this visit occurring on March 13. He secured from one of 

 the farmers five meteorites, aggregating in weight over a thou- 

 sand pounds, the heaviest specimen weighing 466 pounds. 



Professor Robert Hay arrived on the spot March 14, but did not 

 obtain any specimens. The writer reached the interesting locality 

 on March 17, and obtained one of the Greensburgh specimens 

 which had just been secured by the farmer. He made a second 

 visit on the 22d, securing the two remaining Greensburgh speci- 

 mens, thus obtaining all three of the masses which had been re- 

 moved by the cowboy. He made a third visit March 29, securing 

 two other specimens, which had been obtained by the farmer 

 from his neighbors. The weights of these five specimens are re- 

 spectively 101.32, 71.50, 54.96. 52.82, and 35.72 pounds. These 

 weights have been accurately determined (except that of the 

 71.50-pound mass) by the United States standard scales in charge 

 of the Department of Physics in the University of Kansas. 



The writer retains the 54.96-pound specimen for the Museum of 

 the University of Kansas, the four others being now in the pos- 

 session of Mr. George F. Kunz of New York City, who has also 

 secured four of the five si)ecimens obtained liy Professor Cragin. 



The total number of masses included in this (all was at least 

 twenty. T«o of them are in the possession of Professor N. H. 

 Winchell of the University of Minnesota, and several have dis- 

 appeared from view, either having been mislaid or being still in 

 private hands. The total weight of all tlie masses must have 

 exceeded two thousand pounds. They fell within an oval area 

 about one mile in length. 



The most remarkable point connected with the history of these 

 meteorites is the fact that for five years they should have been 

 know to so many citizens of Kiowa County before the attention 

 of scientific men was directed to them. The wife of the farmer 

 upon whose premises most of them were found persistently main- 



tained that they would prove to be of some pecuniary value. This 

 idea was, however, ridiculed by her relatives and neighbors ; but 

 she persisted in retaining control of most of the masses found 

 upon the land pre empted by her husband, until now the proceeds 

 of this " iron from heaven" have cleared the farm from a heavy 

 mortgage, and placed the family in comfortable circumstances. 



These masses, during the period preceding their discovery by 

 Kansas scientists, were put to a great variety of ignoble uses.. 

 One 75pound specimen was used to keep in place the cover of a 

 rain-barrel or the door of a cellar; another, weighing 350 pounds, 

 served to hold down the roof of a stable ; another, weight 310 

 pounds, was employed to secure the roof of a dug-out ; another 

 had been used with other common rocks to help fill up a hole 

 under a barb wire fence through which the hogs had made their 

 escape from their feeding-ground. This was the 35.72-pound 

 specimen obtained on the writer's last visit, and was secured only 

 after a long and anxious search. 



Some of these specimens were only partially buried in the- 

 ground ; others were struck by the breaking plough at a depth of 

 from three to four inches ; others at the second ploughing, five or 

 six inches deep ; others yet, by the stirring plough at the third 

 ploughing in a subsequent season. 



The specimen retained by the university weighed 54.96 pounds,, 

 or 24.93 kilos. It is an irregular plum-shaped mass, much pitted, 

 and covered with a burned and weathered crust. Its extreme- 

 length is about eleven inches, and its breath is seven inches. This 

 specimen, as well as the others mentioned above, so far as ex- 

 amined by the writer, belongs to that class of meteoriciron known 

 as " pallasite." It is composed of nickeliferous iron, including 

 many cavities throughout the entire interior. These cavities are 

 filled with troilite and a yellowish, glassy mineral, which is prob- 

 ably olivine. Some of the latter is very dark and less transparent. 



The specihc gravity, determined by Mr. E. C. Frankhn, our 

 assistant in chemistry, and obtained by weighing the whole mass^ 

 is 4.76. Two hundred and ninety-three grams have been removed 

 from the larger end of the specimen, and a polished surface of 

 about fifteen square inches has been obtained, v, hich shows very 

 well the structure. The Wiedmanstaeten figures, rather coarse 

 in outline, were developed readily upon the polished iron surface- 

 by the application of nitric acid. The portion removed from th& 

 specimen is being used for analysis by Professor E. H. S. Bailey 

 and Mr. E. C. Franklin, and the results of the analysis will appear- 

 later. F. H. Snow. 



Lawrence, Kan., May 1. 



Experiments with Cave-Air. 



Geand Atentje Cave is situated in Edmondson County. Ky.^ 

 four miles from Mammoth Cave, on the Mammoth Cave Railway, 

 and belongs to the system of great caves which are found in this 

 section of the subcarboniferous limestone formation. Its extent 

 has not been determined as yet, though from three to five milea. 

 are opened, showing a magniticent series of the grandest avenues 

 to be found on the globe. The main avenue is about two miles 

 long, and will average 40 feet wide and 30 feet high. This being 

 the highest cave in this section makes it the dryest in the rainiest 

 seasons. The floors are covered with dust; but the absolute dry- 

 ness of the air is best shown by a small house that was built in the- 

 cave some eighteen years ago, the wood, nails, lock, and hinges of 

 which are as sound and bright as when first put in. A self regis- 

 tering thermometer placed in the cave last November has regis- 

 tered 50° ever since, that being the unvarying temperature. Inves- 

 tigations looking to the use of this cool, dry, and pure air have 

 been in progress for the past six months. A shaft 5 inches in 

 diameter and 225 feet deep was sunk into the cave at a distance- 

 of 1,500 feet from its mouth, over which a small experimental 

 building was placed. By means of a small Sturtevant exhaust 

 fan, the air from the cave was brought into the room, and the 

 temperature was reduced from 72° to 59° in less than an hour,, 

 thereby showing very clearly that with a large shaft, by which 

 the friction would be greatl) reduced, any quantity of thi* ah' can 

 be distributed through a large building, thus placing it within the- 

 power of the owners to absolutely control the climatic conditions 



