64 A. E. Foote — Notice of a Meteoric Stone. 



Art. VII. — Preliminary Notice of a Meteoric Stone seen 

 to fall at Bath, South Dakota ; bv A. E. Foote.* With 

 Plate III. 



On the 29th day of August, 1892, about four o'clock in the 

 afternoon, while Mr. Lawrence Freeman and his son were 

 stacking upon his farm two miles south of Bath, they were 

 alarmed by a series of heavy explosions. On looking up they 

 saw a meteoric stone flying through the air followed by a 

 cloud of smoke. Its course was easily traced to the point 

 where it fell within about twenty rods from where they were 

 standing. The stone penetrated the hardened prairie to a 

 depth of about sixteen inches and when reached it was found 

 to be so warm that gloves had to used in handling it. Three 

 small pieces of an ounce or two each had apparently been 

 blown off by the explosions, but the stone still weighed 46f lbs. 

 One of these small pieces was found by some men not far dis- 

 tant and was broken up and distributed among them. The 

 explosions were plainly heard by a large number of people at 

 Bath, two miles away, and at Aberdeen, nine miles away, it 

 sounded like distant cannonading. The exterior of the stone 

 presents the usual smooth black crust. The interior is quite 

 close-grained resembling in texture the stones from Mocs. 

 The iron is abundantly disseminated through the mass, and 

 although the grains are small they are easily distinguished 

 and separated on pulverizing. 



Preliminary tests made by Mr. Amos P. Brown of the 

 mineralogical department of the University of Pennsylvania 

 prove the presence of nickel and cobalt in considerable quantity. 

 Plate III shows the form of the stone and the size is indicated 

 by the metric scale at the side. An affidavit signed by 

 Charles Freeman (before H. T. Boot, Notary Public) stating 

 the facts of the fall, is in the hands of the writer to whom 

 the stone was sent. 



* A verbal communication on the above was made before the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (November 23, 1892.) 



