MEMOIR ON METEORITES. 



PART I. 



A DESCKIPTION OF FIVE NEW METEOPvIC IKONS. 



1. Meteoric Iron from Tazewell County, E. Tenn. 



This meteorite was placed in my possession through the 

 kindness of Prof. J. B. Mitchell, of Knoxville, in the month 

 of August, 1853. 'it was found by a son of Mr. Rogers, living 

 in that neighborhood, while engaged in plowing a hillside; his 

 attention was drawn to it by its sonorous character. As it very 

 often happens among the less informed, it was supposed to be 

 silver, or to contain a large portion of that metal. With some 

 difficulty the mass was procured by Prof. Mitchell and passed 

 over to me. Nothing could be ascertained as to the time of its 

 fall. It is stated among the people living near where the mete- 

 orite was found that a light has been often seen to emanate from 

 and rest upon the hill — a belief that may have had its founda- 

 tion in the observed fall of this body. 



The weight of this meteorite was fifty-five pounds. It is of a 

 flattened shape, with numerous conchoidal indentations, and 

 three annular openings passing through the thickness of the 

 mass near the outer edge. Two or three places on the surface 

 are flattened, as if other portions were attached at one time, 

 but had been rusted off by a process of oxidation that has 

 made several fissures in the mass so. as to allow portions to be 

 detached by the hammer, although when the metal is sound 

 the smallest fragment could not be thus detached, it being both 

 hard and tough. Its dimensions are such that it will just lie 

 in a box thirteen inches long, eleven inches broad, and five and 

 a half inches deep. The accompanying figure gives a correct 

 idea of the appearance of this meteorite 



