604 Dr. Walter Flight — History of Meteorites. 



was not established, is of course the monosulphide. The rocky por- 

 tion of the Danville meteorite consists of : 



Soluble silicate 60-88 



Insoluble silicate 39-12 



100-00 

 and has the following composition : 



Si0 2 A1 2 3 Cr 2 3 FeO MnO MgO CaO K 3 Na 2 S P 



A. Soluble.. 45-90 1-73 trace 23-64 trace 2652 2-31 0-64 0-51 1-01 trace = 102-26 



B. Insoluble 500S 4-11 — 1985 — 20-14 3-90 — — — — = 98-08 



In the soluble portion the excess over 100 is due to some of the 

 iron regarded as oxide being present in combination with sulphur ; 

 this portion is chiefly olivine, that insoluble in acid is bronzite with 

 a little augite or felspar. 



The author finds this meteorite to be similar in every respect to 

 the stone which fell in Harrison Co., Indiana (1859, March 28th), 

 which in many catalogues is incorrectly referred to Harrison Co., 

 Kentucky (1859, March 26th). 



1868, December 5th. — Frankfort, Franklin Co., Alabama. 1 



The fall of this meteorite, which occurred at 3 p.m. on the above day, 

 was attended by three loud reports, immediately succeeded by a series 

 of sounds like that of a great fire blazing and crackling. The descent 

 took place four miles S. of Frankfort, and was witnessed by Mr. 

 J. W. Hoopei', who saw the stone strike some willow saplings about 

 70 or 80 yards from him ; on going to the spot, he found it nearly 

 buried in the ground and still warm. The noise of the explosion 

 was heard 20 or 25 miles E. and W. and 15 or 20 N. of Frankfort. 

 Mr. Hooper made notes of the occurrence, and sent the stone for 

 analytical examination. " He refused with scorn money offers, 

 which must have been tempting to a person of limited income, pre- 

 ferring the advancement of science to dollars and cents." 



The meteorite, which is almost entirely covered with a very lus- 

 trous black crust, so thin in some parts that fragments of olivine can 

 be distinguished through it, weighs 615 grammes, and has a specific 

 gravity of 3-31. A fractured surface presents a pseudo-porphyritic 

 structure, having a grey ground on which black, green, white and 

 dark «rey spots are seen : the black fragments are very lustrous and 

 slightly magnetic (chromite) ; and the yellowish-green mineral, 

 passing into yellow and shading into dark gi'ey, appears to be olivine ; 

 while the greyer variety cannot, according to Brush, be distinguished 

 from the " piddingtonite " of the Shalka stone, now shown to be no 

 true mineral species (see page 405). Some brilliant points possessing 

 metallic lustre were found to be troilite ; -and one or two delicate 

 black veins were also observed. 



The nickel-iron constitutes only a few hundredths of one percent., 

 the chromite 0-62 per cent., and the troilite 0-63 per cent, of the 



1 G. J. Brush. Amer. Jour. Sc, 1869, xlviii. 240. 



