C. U. Shepard on a Meteoric Iron? from N. Carolina. 263 
but too intricate for description. They do not however possess 
any analogy to the etchings on meteoric iron, steel or cast-iron. 
e surface G at its uppermost portion (or to the right in the 
figure) is almost perfectly smooth, presenting only a faint resem- 
blance to the flat side, in the presence of a few nearly obsolete 
wrinkles, At the middle region, however, these elevations be- 
come more strongly marked; while still lower down (to the left) 
they degenerate in regularity and pass into the pitted and undu- 
lous surface, as they form the interior of a crateriform cavity 
fully half an inch deep, by three quarters of an inch across at its ° 
opening. The appearance of this cavity at once suggests the 
idea that a blunt solid was thrust into the matter when nearly 
congealed, forcing it into the large wrinkles or waves whic 
form the circumference of the crater. Indeed, it appears highly 
probable that all the undulations and crimpings, large and small, 
originated in the foreign body that produced this deep cavity, 
Very little stress however could be attached to an explanation 
of such various and unusual appearances as this mass presents, 
and I could venture upon no conjecture of its origin as a whole, 
more probable, than that the matter of which it is com ad 
‘owed originally intg a cavity in some earthy, refractory mate- 
nal, where it slowly suffered congelation, pressing with greater 
force perhaps against the walls of the cavity on the striated or 
seml-cylindric side than upon the other. In any case, it seems 
quite certain, that its formation occurred with entire exclusion 
received (J 
‘T had 
27th ult. 
very 
Was found 
ever 
