G. F. Kunz — Two new masses of Meteoric Iron. 275 



Aet. XXIX. — On two new masses of Meteoric Iron; by 

 Geoege F. Kunz. With Plate VII. 



1. Meteoric Iron from Linnville Mountain, Burke Co., North 



Carolina. 



A mass of meteoric iron* was found on Linnville Mountain, 

 Burke Co., K C, (long. 81° 35'W. of Greenwich, lat. 35° 40' K), 

 about the year 1882. It was handed to a country blacksmith in 

 the vicinity who sold it to a tourist miner, and by him it was 

 sold to Mr. Norman Spang, of Etna, Pa., who, not being a col- 

 lector of meteorites, has kindly allowed it to come into my pos- 

 session. 



This meteorite weighs 428 grams ; the original weight was 

 442 grams (15-J ounces), the balance having been used for an- 

 alysis and for etching ; it is 2J- inches (65 mm ) long, If inches 

 (35 mm ) high and 2J inches (38 mm ) wide. One side is rather 

 rough and the other pitted with very shallow pittings. Traces 

 of the black crust of magnetic oxide of iron are still visible, 

 and although the mass is not rusted, yet small drops of chlo- 

 ride of iron have collected in the deep clefts, and in one of 

 them was found a spider's egg case, suggesting either that the 

 iron is a recent fall or had been found on the surface of the 

 ground. See figure 1 on Plate VII, natural size. 



In cutting a piece from the lower side, the blacksmith has 

 destroyed considerable of the surface as well as the crust, on 

 account of the toughness of the iron. The iron admits of a 

 very high polish, yielding a rich nickel color, which under the 

 glass and by reflected light, shows an apparent network of two 

 distinct bodies. 



When bromine water or diluted nitric acid is applied to a 

 polished surface of the iron it blackens and does not show the 

 Widmanstatten figures. See figure 2 on Plate VII magni- 

 fied two diameters. If this black deposit is washed off an 

 orientated sheen appears which resembles that of the Green 

 County iron described by Blakef and the iron in the Port 

 Orford, Oregon, meteorite, as figured by JBrezina and Cohen 

 in "Die Structur und Zusammensetzung der Meteoreisen, 

 etc.";): Almost the entire surface has, under the glass, the 

 appearance of a meshwork of which the irregularly rounded 

 centers have been eaten out. At a few places on both sides of 

 a crack is a small piece of troilite 3 mm by li mm , through which 

 are scattered small patches of meteoric iron that after etching 



* Exhibited at the New York Academy of Sciences, Dec. 5th, 1887. 

 f This Journal, III, vol. xxxi, p. 41. 

 % Stuttgart, 1876, Lieferung I, Tafel VI. 



Am. Jour. Scl— Third Series, Vol. XXXVI, No. 213.— Oct., 1888. 

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