316 II. A. Ward — Bath Furnace Meteorite. 



Art. XXXII. — The Bath Furnace Meteorite ; by Henry A. 



"Ward. 



We are fortunate in the addition of another — the third — to 

 the number of meteorites which have fallen to earth in the 

 year just p>ast and are on record. 



On the evening of November 15, 1902, at about 6.45 o'clock, 

 a brilliant meteor was seen by many persons in the States of 

 Louisiana, Mississippi, A^bama, Georgia, Tennessee, Ken- 

 tucky, and Ohio, in its progress from southwest to northers c 

 over a course of more than six hundred mi ] es. Its passage 

 was simultaneously noticed by two trained observers — Profes- 

 sor A. H. Miller of the State College at Lexington, Kentucky, 

 and Professor II. C. Lord of the Emerson McMillan Observa- 

 tory of Columbus, Ohio. These gen Clemen both secured the 

 altitude and azimuth of the point where it appeared to burst 

 and vanish, as seen from their rather widely separated stand- 

 points. Calculations based upon these observations grve 

 the approximative place of the fall — where, indeed, it hau 

 already been announced — as in Bath County, Kentucky. The 

 detonations which immediately preceded its descent to the 

 earth were heard over a large area in that region, most persors 

 thinking that they were due to the explosions of nitroglycerin, 

 which is often used in " shooting " wells in the neighboring 

 Ragland oil fields. 



The aerolite — for such it was — came to the earth in the 

 extreme southern part of Bath County, at an old settlement 

 called Bath Furnace. It struck in the middle of the road, 

 directly in front of the home of Mr. Bluford Staton. Mr. 

 Staton and his wife at once made search for it, but on account 

 of the darkness they failed to find it that night. The next 

 morning, however, Mr. Staton readily discovered the meteor- 

 ite lying on the surface of the ground on the side of the road, 

 whither it had bounded. It had lost some small chippings by 

 the collision of its fall, but was in the main quite entire. 



Mr. Staton in a letter tells me : " It was dark. I saw the 

 light and heard the report. It came through the air, whizzing 

 like a steam-saw going through a plank. * * * The stone 

 struck in the middle of our hard road and bounded, away for 

 about five feet to one side. The hole which it made in the 

 road was about one foot long, nine inches wide, and five inches 

 deep." 



The aerolite is in general shape a five-sided polygon, some- 

 what wedge-shaped when viewed from either the side or the 

 end asp 3ct. Its length is 8J inches, height 6-J- inches, width 

 4f inches. The weight of the mass is 12 lbs. 13| ounces. 



