14 FIRST FLOOR, SOUTH PAVILION 
rapid progress. This statue of Mr. Jesup was executed by William Couper 
and was presented to the Museum by the Trustees and a few other friends. 
The marble busts in the wall niches represent noteworthy pioneers of Ameri- 
can science, and are the gift of Morris kK. Jesup. These include Benjamin 
Franklin, statesman and natural philosopher, Alexander von Humboldt, 
geographer and geologist, Louis Agassiz, zodlogist, Joseph Henry, physicist, 
John James Audubon, ornithologist, Spencer Fullerton Baird, zodlogist 
and founder of the United States Fish Commission, James Dwight Dana, 
geologist, John Torrey, botanist, Edward Drinker Cope, paleontologist, 
and Joseph Leidy, anatomist. 
Circling this same hall is the collection of meteorites, popularly known 
as “shooting stars,’ ranging in weight from a few grains to 36 tons. The 
greater number of meteorites are stony, but the more interest- 
ing ones are composed chiefly of iron, while certain meteorites 
contain both stone and iron. The toughness of iron meteorites is due to 
the presence of nickel, and the fact that they were so difficult to cut led to 
the adoption of an alloy of nickel and iron in making the armor plate for 
battleships. Meteorites have a very definite structure and when polished 
(see specimens on the right with electric lamp) show characteristic lines 
which together with their composition are to the expert absolute proof that 
Meteorites 
the specimens are meteorites. 
“ Ahnighito” or “The Tent” at the left is the largest known meteorite 
es in the world, and was brought from Cape York, Greenland, 
Ahnighito by Admiral R. E. Peary. It weighs 36 tons, and its trans- 
: * g 
Meteorite ; é 2 : ; ied 
portation to New York was an engineering feat. Opposite it 
at the right is the curiously pitted “Willamette ’’ meteorite 
Willamette from Oregon which was the subject of a famous lawsuit. 
Meteorite [The collection of meteorites is fully described in Guide 
Leaflet No. 26.} 
Suspended in the center of the room is a three-inch incandescent globe 
representing the sun. Standing directly beneath this globe one may see 
suspended from the ceiling other lights representing the four 
na of planets of the Solar System which are nearest the sun, and 
olar 
installed in such a manner as to show relative size and distance 
System 
from the sun, and orbit around the sun. The respective 
orbits are subdivided into sections representing the solar day, and the 
relative diurnal position of each planet is shown. The “Signs of the 
Zodiac’’ are imbedded in the floor. 

