Glenn — New Meteorite from Hendersonville, N. C. 215 



Art. XIX. — Notes on a New Meteorite from Hendersonville, 

 N. C, and on additional pieces of the Smithville, Tenn., 

 Fall ; by L. C. Glenn. 



Last spring Dr. "W. H. Jarmau of Nashville added to the 

 Jarman collection in geology here a stony meteorite which had 

 been presented to him by Capt. C. F. Toms of Hendersonville, 

 N. C. The writer immediately wrote to Capt. Toms asking 

 for all the information he could give as to the time, place and 

 circumstances of the fall or find. The following extract from 

 his reply contains all the information obtainable on these 

 points. " About the year 1876, when I was quite a boy, a 

 meteor passed over this town from east to west. My father 

 describes it as being as large as a ' wash pot' and it appeared to 

 break into three pieces near the spot where this piece came 

 from. It was very bright, lighting up the whole country and 

 exploded with a great roar like a cannon. In 1901 Wm. Corn, 

 a citizen living near the place, about three miles northwest of 

 Hendersonville, brought this piece to us and we recognized 

 what it was. He found it in the vicinity of what is known as 

 the county home for the aged and infirm, probably on the 

 land belonging to it." 



The meteorite as received weighed 11 pounds and 6 ounces. 

 The original weight, however, had been perhaps two pounds 

 greater than this, as two pieces had been broken off before it 

 reached the writer's hands. From one corner a large piece 

 had been broken off, and from another a small flake had 

 been removed. Concerning these pieces, Capt. Toms says, 

 " The pieces broken off were used to make an assay (which 

 has been lost) and therefore cannot be had." 



The shape of the mass received was somewhat cubical, 

 though one face of the quasi cube was considerably modified 

 by an irregular portion projecting above it. The exact shape 

 of this projecting portion cannot now be ascertained, as from it 

 had been removed the larger of the two missing pieces above 

 referred to. When resting on a face that may very conveni- 

 ently be regarded as the base, it stands 6-J- inches high, is 5-J 

 inches wide and 5^ inches thick. Its extreme diagonal length 

 is 8 inches. The edges are all either gently or acutely rounded. 

 A considerable portion of the surface is smooth and nearly flat, 

 while the rest of the surface is covered with irregular, shallow 

 pittings or undulations. 



The underlying surface color is almost black, but it is gener- 

 ally obscured by rust-colored areas, due to weathering. On 

 broken surfaces it is seen that weathering has produced a rusty - 



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