64 Foote — New Meteoric Iron from Garrett Co., Md. 



Art. IX. — A new Meteoric Iron from Garrett Co., Mary- 

 land ; by A. E. Foote. With Plate I * 



A physician residing near the Maryland line of Pennsyl- 

 vania recently brought to me an iron mass to learn if it was 

 meteoric, and this it has proved to be. It was discovered in 

 Garrett Co., Md., about twelve miles from the Post Office of 

 Lonaconing, not far from the boundary. It was ploughed up 

 about three or four years ago by a boy in a field, According 

 to an analysis by Dr. Koenig, it contains over 11 per cent of 

 nickel and cobalt, the proportion of cobalt being unusually high. 



It is one of the best octahedral etching irons known, being 

 even more characteristic than the most of those that have been 

 used for printing directly on paper. Besides the striking 

 reticulated octahedral structure, it shows a large number of 

 secondary lines regularly disposed with reference to the prin- 

 cipal markings. These I believe to be similar to those de- 

 scribed by Prof. J. Lawrence Smith, in a Wisconsin meteorite, f 

 under the name of Laphamite markings. The original weight 

 was 45 oz. but it has been reduced by analysis, cutting, polish- 

 ing etc. to 36|- oz. The locality is especially interesting since 

 this is one of the very few discovered in the Middle or Eastern 

 States. 



The following is Prof. J. Lawrence Smith's description of 

 the Laphamite markings on the Wisconsin iron, and it applies 

 to the Garrett County siderite, except that the bright figures 

 are the ones that show the secondary marking. 



" The Widmanstattian figures are, a, bright metallic, with con- 

 vex ends and sides ; be, of a darker color, are the other markings, 

 usually smaller, and with the sides and ends concave. The mate- 

 rial- of which these dark figures are composed seems to have 

 enveloped the lighter colored portion, which serves to make the 

 dark lines so beautifully conspicuous. A good pocket-glass will 

 show that the dark figures are striated, with lines at right-angles 

 to the bounding surfaces. When the figure is nearly square the 

 lines extend from each of the four sides, but when much elonga- 

 ted, as at c, they are parallel with the longer sides. Often these 

 lines do not reach the middle of the figure, where only a confused 

 crystallization can be detected. In the interior of the elongated 

 figures the lines are quite irregular, often running together and 

 showing a striking resemblance to woody fiber. The nature of 

 these markings may be easily understood. They indicate the 

 axes of minute columnar crystals, which tend to assume a posi- 

 tion at right-angles to the surface on cooling." 



* A verbal notice of the discovery was made to the Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia, in November, 

 f This Journal, xlvii, 271, 1869. 



