The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-11-07
ANALYZING A METEORITE.
Prof. HcrriII Examines n stone That
Fell In AInbamn Last May.

Prof George u. Merrill. curator of the
department OF Geology Of the National
AH~-um Who is engaged en- making "a
oAemi"t. analysis of the specimen known
as Arawure m,teorita, has recently ISSUED
stat, mert concerning a. stormy meteor
! pc" which fen near Felix. Perry county.
Ala. May D. 1900. This m,tcurit- has
many points of resemblance to the Ard
AMOR" m,tygrite. which Iattgr stone con-
| itinS an element So difficult of cIaSSifi-
cation as go lead many scientists Jo be
H'Nr that Prof. Merrill is ON the point of
discovering new mineral Prof. Merrill
however, does not share this belief, think
ing that under further examination the
battling constituent Will prove to Doe "a
I. known quantity.
For tho details concerning the fIII Of
the Alabama meteor. as Wen as for Sc
curing the specimen Itself. the National
Museum is indebted 10 j. w. Coleman.
"ao visited tho locality and obtained the
statements Of overtime Prof. NIer-
Tlll describes the general appearance Of
the stone As follows.
SO far as an De Iearl-i-a part OF the
. Information being obtained by Mr. Cole
man from u'grpe S-th- stone at the time
OF the explosion broke into three pieces.
inc larger Of which was the one brought
have originally weighed about seven
pounds. as already noted. Another small
piece was found. but has disappeared.
and the third. If such there was. mas
never found The stone. AS obtained by
Mr.. Cole man. was broken into r-g pieces
which weighed aItusEth,r 2.ui9 grams Il
was about thirteen centImcJTes i'm its
greatest length, by nine I'm breadth. and
about the same thickness and was COW
cred except where broken. hy "a very thin
black crust nowhere more than half "a
miillmetre ira thickness The color on the
broken surfaces IS dark smoky grey. all
most black. II is very fine aimed. with
numerous small dark chrudrulsS. not
more than one 20 Two millimttrts Iu Ci-
amcJCr al most. and with no metallic iron
visible To- the naked eye The mass IS
quite soft and friable and resembles I'm
general way the stones of WarreUtoD,
Warren county. Mo, and Lance. France.
more closely than those of any other lu-
cailty with which the author rs acguaIIt-
eel.
The color is. however. darker Jhau IS
the Warren county stone and che chun-
critic structure more pronounced than IL
that of Lance u is moreover. uniformly
grey I'm color. 9Ud rot SpecEled with white,
as Is tho last named ndsr the micro
scope the stone is seen II once To- DtIDIE
to the chondTitic type. as is indeed evident
on close inspection by the naked eye. The
essential minerals are Divine. aUglts. and
CnStatit-. with troilite and ustiy- iron,
the siilcatrs occurring IN the form ot
rGDudTules. e.. associated more o. less
fragmeutal particles. embedded In 70 dark,
opaque. or family translucent base. when
rs irTesulvable so far as the microscope h.
concerned. Tie structure is UrOIouucUIly
fragmcutsl and the stog" belongs beyond
question. To the group pt tuuS-
After careful and minute igyeStigE-
tiUu into the microscopic structure Ca .Ee
specimen. Prof Merrill determined the
meteorological composition to Doe as fol-
lows Metal. S.4 per cent. tru.lit-. il"-
Chromite. IL. grapk:te. u-a5. soluble sill
cate tolIyinc in partj. l--ft- ilsuluhl- sill
cate teustaute and auEite In part. 1901