426 Dr. Walter Flight— On Meteorites. 



fell during an evening and developed a light as bright as day. The 

 piece sent to Europe constitutes one-half of the original aerolite. A 

 crack, started when the stone was broken, has since led to the stone 

 falling into two pieces, weighing 1239 grammes and 974 grammes, 

 The meteorite belongs to the very rare class of carbonaceous stones ; 

 its structure is dark grey, has little lustre and is soft ; it contains no 

 visible meteoric iron, but an abundance of light grey rounded bodies, 

 among which are occasionally some with a dull metallic lustre and 

 of a greenish yellow colour, and others of a dark grey compact sub- 

 stance and of earthy character. 



The meteoric nature of the stone is placed beyond doubt by the 

 crust still adhering to the smaller fragment. When the two pieces 

 are held together, it is easy to recognize which side of the stone was 

 in front during its passage through the atmosphere. The entire 

 stone appears to have had the form of a sphaeroid 150 mm. in the 

 smallest and 180 mm. in the longest diameter. 



1881, March 14, 3-35 p.m. — Pennyman's Siding, Middlesbrough, 



Yorkshire.^ 



During the past year a very beautiful specimen of a meteorite fell 

 near Middlesbrough, at a spot called Pennyman's Siding on the 

 North-Eastern Railway Company's branch-line from Middlesbrough 

 to Guisbrough, about one mile and three-quarters from the former 

 town. Its descent was witnessed by W. Ellinor and three plate- 

 layers, who heard a whizzing or rushing noise in the air, followed 

 in a second or two by a sudden blow of a body striking the ground 

 not far from them ; the spot was found to be 48 yards from where 

 they stood. The fall took place at 3-35 p.m. on the 14th March, 

 1881. No luminous or cloud-forming phenomena are reported. Ac- 

 cording to Prof. Alexander Herschel, who at once visited the spot, 

 the fall appears to have been nearly vertical. The stone was " new- 

 milk warm " when found, and weighed 3Ib. 8^ oz. ; the crust is very 

 perfect and of an unusual thickness, and has scarcely suffered by the 

 fall. The stone forms a low pyramid, slightly scolloped or con- 

 choidal-looking, 6^ inches in length, 5 inches wide, and 3 inches in 

 height. The rounded summit and sloping sides are scored and 

 deeply grooved, with a polish like black lead in waving furrows 

 running to the base, showing that this side came foremost during 

 the whole of the fusing action of the atmosphere which the meteorite 

 underwent in its flight. The base is equally fused by heat, but is 

 rough, dull brown in colour, and not scored or furrowed. It pene- 

 trated the soil to a depth of eleven inches. From experiments made 

 by Professor Herschel, it is calculated that it struck the ground with 

 a velocity of 412 feet per second. As it would acquire this velocity 

 by falling freely through half a mile, it is evident that little of the 

 original planetary speed with which it entered the atmosphere can 

 have remained over. 



^ A. S. Herschel, Newcastle Baih/ Chronicle, Marcli 30, 1881, Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne. Walter Flight, Froc. R. S. 1SS2, p. 346. 



