METEORITE COLLECTION—HANDBOOK AND CATALOGUE. 21 
ures, z, e. made up of narrower bands, can be seen in the Lion River 
(62), Smith’s Mt., N.C. (85), Bear Creek (89), Bates Co., Mo. (96) 
and Hamilton Co., Texas (131), irons. 
The finer lines were regarded by Neumann as indicating an 
essentially different structure from that shown by the Widmanstdatten 
figures and they are hence often called Neumann lines, 
As pointed out by Huntington,* however, every gradation can 
be traced between the coarsest Widmanstadtten figures and finest 
Neumann lines, so that there is no reason for regarding them as dis- 
tinct. In Huntington’s view the coarser figures characterize the irons 
in which there was a large amount of foreign matter to be elimi- 
nated, the finer, the purer irons. The former moreover tend to an 
octahedral structure, the latter, a cubic. . 
Most authorities agree that the crystalline structure exhibited in 
the meteoric irons indicates that they remained for a long time in a 
fused or viscous state from which they cooled but slowly. 
Thus Tschermakt states that ‘‘the greater number of meteoric 
irons exhibit a structure which indicates that each formed part ofa 
large mass possessing similar crystalline characters and the formation 
of such large masses presupposes long intervals of time for tranquil 
crystallization at a uniform temperature”. Sorby] also regards ‘‘the 
Widmanstatten figures as the result of such a complete separation 
of the constituents and perfect crystallization as can occur only when 
the process takes place slowly and gradually. They appear to me to 
show that the mass was kept for a long time at a heat just below the 
point of fusion,”’ | 
Further evidence of this is seen in the curved or bent plates con- 
tained in some meteoric irons (Stutsman Co., 126), which were 
probably formed as true planes but, remaining viscous longer than 
other portions of the mass, suffered subsequent distortion. 
It should be noted that there are some irons usually regarded as 
meteoric, which exhibit no trace of the Widmanstdtten figures 
(Chesterville, 56, Allen Co., 92, Maverick Co., 13). Others show 
only acoarse, irregular network of markings (Seelasgen, 375, Puquois, 
124, Silver Crown, 130). 
These may be considered as having been formed under somewhat 
different conditions from those which prevailed in the formation of 
other meteoric irons, or it may be questioned whether they are not of 
terrestrial origin. 
*Proc. Am. Acad. Arts and Sciences, May, 1836, also Am. J. Sc., 3rd ser., Vol. 32, p. 284. 
+Sitz. Wien. Akad., 1875, Bd. 71, pp. 661-673. 
tNature, 1877, Vol. 15, p. 498. 
