E. E. Howell — Ainsworth Meteorite. 



105 



Art. XL — The Ainsworth Meteorite • by Edwin - E. Howell. 



This siderite, for which I propose the name of the town near 

 which it was found, was purchased from Mr. J. C. Toliver. 

 It was found last winter by one of Mr. ~W. G. Townsend's little 

 boys, who called his father's attention to it as it lay partly 

 buried in the sand beside a small creek in Brown Co., 

 Nebraska, about six miles N.W. of Ainsworth. It measured 

 approximately 4r|x6x7 in. and weighed 23 J lbs. (10*65 kilo.) 

 with a specific gravity for the whole mass of Y'85. Two of the 



Section 1. The Ainsworth Meteorite, half nat. size. 



projections on one side are flattened, as if by pounding, but 

 closer examination shows fine striae running evenly across both 

 surfaces, which are in the same plane, suggesting that the 

 meteorite in falling may have glanced on a rock — making a 

 slickensicled surface. The most noticeable feature, however, 

 is the presence, in a number of places on the surface, of bright 

 unaltered troilite and schreibersite. This fact, in connection 

 with the general freshness of the mass, would indicate that the 

 " fall " was a comparatively recent one. A fractured surface 

 on one of the sharp corners, and adjoining flat side, shows 

 where perhaps two lbs. had been broken from the mass ante- 

 cedent to its burial, probably when it fell. The fractured 



