60 Farrington — Nature of the Metallic Veins 



Art. TV. — On the Nature of the Metallic Veins of the 

 Farmington Meteorite ; by O. C. Farrington. 



In notes on the Farmington, Kansas, meteorite published 

 some years ago,* Preston described numerous metallic veins 

 occurring in the mass of the meteorite, and made the follow- 

 ing suggestion as to their origin : " That, as the meteor struck 

 our atmosphere the concussion was so great that the mass was 

 fractured in various places, of course extending from the sur- 

 face inward, and the larger of these fissures or fractures were 

 then filled by the metallic iron which was fused on the exterior 

 surface of the mass, due to its velocity through the atmos- 

 phere and was thus forced in a molten state into its present 

 position, thus forming the metallic veins." The explanation is 

 ingenious and perhaps correctly states the origin of the veins, 

 but a recent study of the matter by the writer has led him to 

 a somewhat different conclusion. 



A discussion of the point seems desirable in view of the 

 light it may throw on the question as to whether the veins of 

 meteorites are in general of terrestrial or pre-terrestrial origin. 

 It should be first noted that the formation of fractures or fis- 

 sures in a meteoric mass ought not probably to be ascribed to 

 concussion from the meteor striking our atmosphere. The 

 fact that such crumbly and friable meteorites as Orgueil, War- 

 renton, Allegan and others have reached the earth intact seems 

 to argue against there being any particular force of concussion 

 attending the meeting of a meteorite with the earth's atmos- 

 phere. The resistance of the atmosphere to the passage of a 

 meteorite is probably rather a gradually increasing one. In 

 the writer's view, therefore, expansion due to external heating 

 of the mass while the interior remained cold is the cause of 

 any fissures which may form in a meteorite during its passage 

 to the earth. Granted, however, that such fissures may form 

 the above quoted explanation of the metallic veins seems to be 

 open to two objections : 1st. The interior of a meteoric mass 

 of any considerable size is so cold that portions of molten 

 metal would be chilled before penetrating to any appreciable 

 distance. 2d. The metallic constituents of the Farmington 

 meteorite are its least fusible ones. That the interior of a 

 meteorite may remain intensely cold during its fall to the 

 earth has been proved in at least two instances, that of the 

 Dhurmsala meteorite, the fragments of which were so cold as 

 to benumb the fingers of those who picked them up, being the 



*This Journal, III, xliv, p. 399. 



