114 Whitfield and Merrill — Fayette County Meteorite. 



to whom we are indebted for the material for study and the 

 privilege of description. On receiving the stone, Mr. Howell 

 published a notice in Science (Feb. 3, 1888, p. 55) putting it on 

 record as the "LaGrange Meteorite," but on finding that this 

 name had already been applied to the Oldham County, Ken- 

 tucky, meteorite, agreed that it should be called the Fayette 

 County Meteorite. 



The stone possesses all the characteristics of a meteorite. 

 The pittings are well marked, but the crust shows only in the 

 deeper depressions ; a freshly fractured surface shows, besides 

 the grains of metal, a greenish gray appearance not unlike 

 some greenstones. A particularly interesting feature of the 

 stone is the presence of a few dark-colored veins varying 

 greatly in dimensions — the one in the specimen for examina- 

 tion being some 2 mm in greatest width, and 60 mm in length. 



The three dimensions of the mass are 58 cm x46 cm X28 cm , and 

 the total weight about 146 kilos. A good idea of the appear- 

 ance of the meteorite may be had from figure 1. 



Before the specimen was pulverized for analysis the vein 

 was carefully sawed out so as to keep all the vein material 

 from the mass. The rock was then ground as fine as possible, 

 and a portion (1 gr.) treated with iodine in cold water, to sepa- 

 rate the metallic particles. The residue was filtered on a Gooch 

 soluble filter and washed free of iodine. The rocky material 

 after being weighed was treated with dilute hydrochloric acid 

 and allowed to stand for some time, then filtered and the resi- 

 due weighed. In both cases the mineral being separated from 

 the filter by using the proper solvent for the anthracene — 

 washed with ether and alcohol and dried at 100° C. This 

 temperature not being sufficient to drive all the water from the 

 mineral part accounts for the discrepancy of about 2 per cent. 



The following figures will show the composition of the metal 

 and the rock, soluble and insoluble, in hydrochloric acid ; also 

 the results of a complete analysis of the total mass : 



