220 J. L. Smith—Description of Meteorie Stones. 
ord. Its height is supposed to have been thirty-eight miles 
above the place where the small fragment fell from it. 
In various parts of its track, it threw off fragments, accom- 
panied with the usual rumbling noise and commotion in the 
atmosphere common to the flight of these bodies. When cross- 
ing Indiana, the main body was followed by a train of smaller 
bolides, many of them of the apparent size of Venus or Jupi- 
ter. Its velocity in reference to the earth’s surface appeared to 
be from eight to twelve miles per second. The pyrotechnic 
display is said to have been transcendently beautiful, hardly 
arpa or surpassed by any previous occurrence of the kind. 
The cause of this brilliancy lay in the physical structure of the 
body, which will be detailed farther on. 
e fragment which fell—The only fragment of this bolid 
known to have fallen was one found on the farm of Mr. Mor- 
ris, three miles northwest of Rochester, Indiana, lat. 41°, long. 
86°. This farmer heard the explosion, and shortly afterward 
noticed a body strike the ground not far from him. There 
- were six inches of snow upon the ground, and, on the follow- 
ing morning he found the stone, which had rebounded to a 
short distance from the place where it first fell, it not having 
ceeds the ground. The entire stone did not weigh four 
undred grams, and as we have not heard of the fall of any 
other mass, it is reasonable to suppose that it was dissipated into 
very minute fragments and dust, as in the case of the Hessle 
stones and other similar falls. 
he manner in which the molten matter of the exterior of 
many of these meteorites is swept over their surfaces, in shining 
streaks, covering freshly broken surfaces, show clearly that this 
disintegration is constantly and rapidly going on in these bodies 
during their passage through the air. I have in my collection 
many fine examples illustrating this fact. 
Professor Kirkwood is of the opinion that this bolide never 
passed out of our atmosphere, which is in accord with my gen- 
eral view on this subject, viz: that a bolide rarely, if ever, gets 
entangled in our atmosphere without being entirely reduced to 
fragments or powder, 
‘I'he stone has been broken up into many small fragments, of 
‘which I have fortunately secured a good portion. Others have 
been lost and a few have found their way into collections. 
With the exception of the largest specimen in my collection, 
weighing ninety-five grams, hardly any other fragment weighs 
over thirty grams. It is important to treasure these specimens, 
small as they are, for it is a remarkable stone of its type. It1s of 
the pisolitic variety, very friable, of a gray color, easily crushed 
under the fingers into light powder (some of it to fine dust), and 
to small globules, some of them perfectly spherical, of which 1 
