60 S. C. H. Bailey — Aerolite from Rensselaer Co., JV. Y 



An Iron of doubtful origin. 

 This iron was found on the farm of A. L. Hodge, three miles 

 southwest of New Market Station, Jefferson County, Tennessee, 

 in a region full of small iron furnaces, whence have come a 

 number of pseudo-meteorites, among others the Hominy Creek, 

 Rutherfordton and Campbell County irons. Special inquiries 

 were therefore made by Professor Ira Sayles, who obtained it, 

 as to the presence of furnaces in the vicinity. The immediate 

 locality seemed to be free from them. The iron, full of cavi- 

 ties, is characterized by extreme hardness. Its weight was 640 

 grams, its specific gravity Y'61. Analysis determined its com- 

 position as follows: 



Fe 88-27 P ' 1-80 



M._.. -76 Si -15 



Co -19 Graphite '86 



Cu -03 C (combined) _ _ 1-46 



As tr. 



Mil... 6-73 100-39 



Mg... -14 



Treated with nitric acid, the polished surface developed 

 quite fine markings not unlike Widmanstatten figures. The 

 high percentage in manganese is possibly an objection to as- 

 cribing to it a meteoric origin. The presence of manganese, 

 however, and in considerable quantities, is not so uncommon 

 as many think. The Claiborne and Bitburg meteorites, both 

 of unquestioned meteoric origin, eontain respectively 3*24 per 

 cent and 4*00 per cent. 

 Laboratory TJ. S. Geological Survey, Feb. 2, 1887. 



Art. X. — On an Aerolite from Rensselaer County, New York; 

 by S. C. H. Bailey. 



About the year 1863, Mr. H. Bancker, of Schaghticoke, 

 N. Y., found, near the base of a large tree on the bank of the 

 Tomhannock Creek in Rensselaer County, a stone of unusual 

 appearance which he took home with him. After breaking 

 off from it a fragment, the stone was laid aside and little 

 further attention given to it until May, 1884, when it was sent 

 to the writer who recognized it as an aerolite. The original 

 weight was probably about 1-| kilos, with an average diameter 

 of about 10 cm and in outline was very round, not varying more 

 than 2 cm in its extreme diameters. The crust was entire except 

 where the fragment had been broken off, and a small crack or 

 fissure, apparently caused by the blow from the hammer. The 

 crust is of very uniform thickness, black, hard, thin, unglazed, 



