286 FIELD CoLuMBIAN MusEUM—GEOLOGY, VOL. I. 
ments show that they were wholly within the interior. The portion of 
the stone to which these fragments would be attached if a complete 
restoration of its form could be made would be that to the rear and to 
the left of the part shown in Plate XLIII (Frontispiece) or to the 
rear of the stone in the position in which it is shown in 
Fig. 1, Plate XLIV. As will be seen by referring to Plate XLIII 
(Frontispiece) the portion of the stone to the right of a vertical line 
drawn through the middle of the plate has an almost wholly natural 
surface. Over this portion therefore the actual form of the stone is 
preserved. The form of the stone as at present restored is, as 
shown by the plate, roughly that of a low cone. The greatest 
diameter of the base of the cone is 34 inches (86 cm.) and the 
altitude from base to apex 20 inches (51 cm.) The conical form, as is 
well known, is the typical one to which meteorites are reduced in 
their passage through the atmosphere, from the fact that the portion 
of the mass in front receiving the brunt of the friction and heat is 
worn down rapidly to an apex from which the other portions slope 
away. That this is the position which the Long Island stone took in 
falling is further indicated by the smooth, unpitted character of the 
_base of the cone (Ruckseite) as compared with the pitted surface of the 
conical portion, and further by the fact that the series of pittings 
(piezoglypten) on the surface extend in radial directions from the apex 
of the cone. It will be noted in the plate that the long axes of the 
pits run in directions nearly parallel to lines drawn from the apex to 
the base of the cone. These then were the directions of the air cur- 
rents. The planes along which the four large fragments were sepa- 
rated and along which they have now been joined together are not 
courses of ordinary irregular fracture, but are definite divisive planes. 
There’are three of these planes, two being continuous each in its own 
‘direction while the third may be described as made up of two planes 
meeting at a very broad angle (160°). The planes run in three direc- 
tions nearly at right angles to each other. They meet, but only at 
one point do they pass through one another. If one will conceive of 
an apple cut in halves by a plane starting a little to one side of the 
bloom, one of these halves then cut through equatorially in a direction 
at right angles to the first plane by two planes starting a little above 
the equator, but meeting at it, then the quarter nearest the bloom cut 
through by a plane at right angles to the equatorial plane in a direc- 
tion running from the bloom to the stem, and passing into the other- 
wise uncut half for quite a distance, an idea will be gained of the 
course of the division planes of this meteorite. Their course can also 
be seen by reference to Plate XLIV. 
