Part 1

BRITISH MUSEUM (NATURAL HISTORY)

CROMWELL ROAD, LONDON, S.W.

* * * * *

MINERAL DEPARTMENT.

* * * * *

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF METEORITES,

WITH A LIST OF THE METEORITES REPRESENTED IN THE COLLECTION.

BY

L. FLETCHER, M.A., F.R.S.,

KEEPER OF MINERALS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM; FORMERLY FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE AND MILLARD LECTURER AT TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD.

* * * * *

TENTH EDITION.

* * * * *

[_This Guide-book can be obtained only at the Museum; written applications should be addressed to "The Director, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, S. W."_]

PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES.

1908.

[_All rights reserved._]

LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W.

PREFACE.

In the accompanying list, the topographical arrangement has been continued for those meteorites of which the circumstances of the fall are without satisfactory record. This mode of arrangement brings near together fragments which have been found in the same district at different times; in some cases they belong to the same meteoritic fall. As the dates of discovery of the masses and the dates of recognition of meteoric origin, upon which other lists of meteorites are based, have been stated very differently in the publications of the principal museums, a reference in each instance to the best available report, and a brief extract from it, are given.

Even as regards the dates of fall of the remaining meteorites there has been much discrepancy in the various lists: every case in which the date here given has been found to differ from that recorded in any other list has been verified by reference to the published reports of the fall.

For the convenience of collectors there has been added (page 107) an alphabetical list of those meteorites of which specimens have been first acquired since the issue of the last list (January 1, 1904).

L. FLETCHER. _May 1, 1908._

TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE

ARRANGEMENT OF THE COLLECTION 7

HISTORY OF THE COLLECTION 8

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF METEORITES 17

LIST OF THE METEORITES REPRESENTED IN THE COLLECTION ON MAY 1, 1908:--

I. Siderites or Meteoric Irons 66

II. Siderolites 91

III. Aerolites or Meteoric Stones 95

LIST OF RECENT ADDITIONS 107

LIST OF BRITISH METEORITES 107

APPENDIX TO THE LIST OF THE METEORITES:--

A. Native Iron (of terrestrial origin) 108

B. Pseudo-meteorites 109

LIST OF THE CASTS OF METEORITES 110

INDEX TO THE COLLECTION 111

ARRANGEMENT OF THE COLLECTION.

By ascending the large staircase opposite to the Grand Entrance and turning to the right, the visitor will reach a corridor leading to the Department of Minerals.

From the entrance of the Gallery the large mass of meteoric iron, weighing three and a half tons, found about 1854 at Cranbourne, near Melbourne, Australia, and presented to the Museum in 1862 by Mr. James Bruce, can be seen in the Pavilion at the opposite end of the Gallery.

The other meteorites will be found in the same room, the smaller specimens in the four central cases, and the larger on separate stands. The casts of meteorites are exhibited in the lower parts of the cases.

The specimens referred to in the 'Introduction to the Study of Meteorites' are in case 4, and are arranged, as far as is practicable, in the order of reference.

The remaining specimens are classified as:--

SIDERITES, consisting chiefly of metallic nickel-iron (panes 1a-2d):

SIDEROLITES, consisting chiefly of metallic nickel-iron and stony matter, both in large proportions (panes 2e, 2f): and

AEROLITES, consisting chiefly of stony matter (panes 2g-3o).

At the beginning of each class are placed those meteorites of which the fall has been observed.

The position of any meteorite in the cases may be found by reference to the Index (p. 111) and to the second column of the List of the Collection (p. 66).

HISTORY OF THE COLLECTION.

Until nearly fifty years after the establishment of the British Museum, meteorite collections nowhere existed, for the reports of the fall of stones from the sky were then treated as absurd, and the exhibition of such stones in a public museum would have been a matter for ridicule; a few stones, which had escaped destruction, were scattered about Europe, and were in the possession of private individuals curious enough to preserve bodies concerning the fall of which upon our globe such reports had been given. Hence it happened that in 1807 not more than four meteoric stones were in the British Museum: three of them, _Krakhut_, _Wold Cottage_ and _Siena_, had been presented in 1802-3 by Sir Joseph Banks; the fourth was a stone of the _L'Aigle_ fall, presented in 1804 by Prof. Biot, the distinguished physicist. A fragment of the mass met with by the traveller Pallas had been presented by the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg as early as 1776; this, and the fragments of _Otumpa_ and _Senegal River_, were long regarded by scientific men as specimens of "native iron," and of terrestrial origin.

In the year 1807, happily for the future development of the Mineral Collection, Mr. Charles Konig (formerly König) was appointed Assistant-keeper, and six years later was promoted to the Keepership of the then undivided Natural History Department; it thus came about that for thirty-eight years the senior officer of the Natural History Department of the Museum was one who had an intense enthusiasm for minerals and made them his own special study. It was in Mr. Konig's time that Parliament voted (1810) a special grant of nearly £14,000 for the purchase of the minerals which had belonged to the Rt. Hon. Charles Greville; with these passed into the possession of the Trustees fragments of seven meteorites, including _Tabor_, which had been acquired by Mr. Greville with the mineral cabinet of Baron Born. The increase of the Natural History Collections was such that in 1827 the Botanical, and in 1837 the Zoological, specimens were assigned to special Departments, after which Mr. Konig, as Keeper of "Minerals (including Fossils)," was left free to devote his attention to those parts of Natural History to which he was more particularly attached.

During Mr. Konig's Keepership, though numerous and excellent mineral specimens were acquired, no great effort was made to render the meteorite collection itself complete; at his death in 1851, 70 falls were represented by specimens. The following had been presented:--

_Stannern:_ by the Imperial Museum of Vienna, in 1814.

_Red River:_ by Prof. A. Bruce, in 1814.

_Mooresfort:_ by Mr. J. G. Children, F.R.S., in 1817, and by Dr. Blake, in 1819.

_Adare:_ by Dr. Blake, in 1819.

The large _Otumpa_ iron, and a piece of the _Imilac_ siderolite: by Sir Woodbine Parish, K.C.B., F.R.S., in 1826 and 1828 respectively.

_Bitburg:_ by Mr. Henry Heuland, in 1831.

_Krakhut:_ by Mr. Wm. Marsden, in 1834.

_Cold Bokkeveld_ meteorite: by Sir John Herschel, Bart., F.R.S., Sir Thos. Maclear, F.R.S., and Mr. E. Charlesworth, in 1839 and 1845.

_Zacatecas:_ by Mr. T. Parkinson, in 1840.

_Akbarpur:_ by Captain P. T. Cautley, in 1843.

_Braunau_ and _Seeläsgen:_ by the Royal Society, in 1848.

After the death of Mr. Konig, Mr. G. R. Waterhouse, palæontologist, was appointed Keeper of the composite Department. It was natural that the palæontological side should then have its turn of special development, and in fact the palæontological collections, already important, increased from that time with great rapidity; the mineralogical side, however, had additions made to it, though not in the proportion allotted during the preceding years. During the Keepership of Mr. Waterhouse (1851-7), only specimens of two additional meteorites were added to the collection; one of them, _Madoc_, was presented in 1856 by Sir Wm. E. Logan, F.R.S.; also additional fragments of _Imilac_ were presented by Mr. W. Bollaert in 1857.

In the year 1857, a further division of the Natural History Collections took place; the mineralogical and the palæontological specimens being assigned to special Departments, and the Minerals placed in the Keepership of Prof. Story-Maskelyne. Under him the Mineral Collection was rendered as complete as possible in all its branches; and it is owing entirely to the unflagging energy he displayed, both in the search for, and in the acquisition of the best obtainable specimens, that the Mineral Collection was brought to its present position of general excellence. Perhaps the greatest relative advance was made in the improvement of the Collection of Meteorites. Perceiving that only half of the falls represented at Vienna were represented in the British Museum, and that the difficulty of making a fairly complete collection of such bodies must increase enormously as time goes on, owing to the absorption of the specimens by public museums, Mr. Maskelyne immediately after his appointment tried to fill up the gaps. In the first place, the meteorite collections of Dr. A. Krantz, Mr. R. P. Greg, and Mr. R. Campbell, and many meteorites belonging to Mr. W. Nevill and Prof. C. U. Shepard, were acquired by purchase in 1861-2. During the interval (1857-63), the whole or parts of many meteorites were presented to the Museum:--

From Great Britain.--_Perth:_ by Mr. W. Nevill.

From Russia.--_Tula:_ by Dr. J. Auerbach of Moscow.

From India.--_Bustee_, _Dhurmsala_, _Durala_ and _Shalka:_ by the Secretary of State for India.

_Assam_, _Butsura_, _Futtehpur_, _Khiragurh_, _Manegaum_, _Mhow_, _Moradabad_, _Segowlie_ and _Umballa:_ by the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

_Nellore_ and _Parnallee:_ by Sir W. T. Denison, K.C.B.

_Kusiali_ and _Pegu:_ by Dr. Thos. Oldham, F.R.S.

_Kaee:_ by Sir Thos. Maclear, F.R.S.

_Dhurmsala:_ by Mr. G. Lennox Conyngham.

From Australia.--The large _Cranbourne_ iron: by Mr. James Bruce.

From South America.--_Vaca Muerta:_ by Mr. W. Taylour Thomson.

_Imilac:_ by Mr. W. Bollaert.

An _Atacama_ iron: by Mr. Lewis Joel.

From North America.--_Tucson:_ by the Town Authorities of San Francisco.

During the same interval, exchanges were made with the museums of Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Copenhagen, Heidelberg, and Göttingen, through Professors Daubrée, Haidinger, Rose, Hoff, Bunsen, and Wöhler, respectively: and also with the following private collectors:--Dr. Abich of Dorpat, Dr. J. Auerbach of Moscow, Mr. R. P. Greg of Manchester, Prof. C. U. Shepard of New Haven, U.S.A., and Dr. Sismonda of Turin.

The result was that by the end of 1863 the number of meteoric falls represented in the collection was 204, and thus had been almost trebled during Mr. Maskelyne's first six years of office.

Meanwhile, although Mr. Maskelyne, with the help of a single assistant (Mr. Thomas Davies), was then rearranging the general collection of minerals according to a new system of classification, time was found for a scientific examination of the meteorites thus being acquired. At that time the Department was without a chemical laboratory, and not even a blowpipe could be used, owing to the necessity of guarding against a possible destruction of the Museum by fire. Hence recourse was had to the microscope, and as early as 1861, a microscope fitted with a revolving graduated stage and an eye-piece goniometer was constructed, under the Keeper's directions, for the examination of thin sections of meteorites with the aid of polarised light.

Working in this way, and with the simplest chemical tests, Mr. Maskelyne was the first to announce in 1862 the discovery in the Bustee meteorite of a mineral, unknown in terrestrial mineralogy, to which he gave the name of Oldhamite, and in 1863, the more than probable occurrence of Enstatite as an important meteoritic ingredient (Nellore). This method of determining the mineral constituents of a rock-section by means of the relation of the vibration-traces to known crystallographic lines, thus first and of necessity employed for the discrimination of the minerals in meteorites, is now in general use in the investigation, not only of meteoritic, but of terrestrial rocks. About the same time, from the Breitenbach meteorite were extracted crystals of Bronzite, which yielded the first crystallographic elements obtained for that mineral: the measurements were made and published by Dr. Viktor von Lang, then assistant in the Department (1862-4) and now Professor of Physics at Vienna.

The microscope was further applied to the mechanical separation of the different mineral ingredients of a meteorite: and by picking out in this toilsome manner the different mineral ingredients from the crumbled material of the Bustee aerolite, and from the residue of the Breitenbach siderolite left after the iron had been removed by mercuric chloride, the several silicates contained in these meteorites were isolated for future analysis. From the particles of colourless mineral thus obtained from the Breitenbach meteorite, one kind was selected in 1867, of which the crystals presented a zone of orthosymmetry containing two optic axes, and yielded two similar cleavages in a zone perpendicular to the former. This ingredient was afterwards (1869) announced to consist wholly of silica, a substance which, before the isolation of this mineral, was only known to occur as quartz, when in crystals, and these belong to the hexagonal system: to the new mineral Mr. Maskelyne later assigned the name of Asmanite. In 1868 was published by Vom Rath the discovery of a species of terrestrial silica, the crystals of which were regarded as belonging to the hexagonal system, though their angular elements were distinct from those of quartz: this mineral, named by him Tridymite, has since been found (1878) to present optical and other characters inconsistent with true hexagonal symmetry, and is probably identical in its specific characters with the meteoritic asmanite.

Further, another mineral occurring as minute gold-yellow octahedra in the Bustee meteorite was recognised as new to mineralogy, and termed Osbornite.

It was not till 1867, when a laboratory was fitted up outside the Museum precincts, that it became possible to make a complete chemical examination of these materials, which had been gradually prepared and carefully picked for analysis. In that year the late Dr. Walter Flight was appointed to assist in the laboratory-work of the Department, and afterwards gave valuable help in the chemical analysis of the above materials; the results were quite confirmatory of those already obtained by aid of the microscope and the simple tests.

Since the great increase made during the first six years of Prof. Maskelyne's Keepership, the Collection has continued to grow, though necessarily at a less rapid rate.

Of the specimens added after 1863, the following have been presented:--

1864-7: _Manbhoom_, _Muddoor_ and _Pokhra:_ by Dr. Thos. Oldham, F.R.S.

1864: _Agra:_ by Mr. Wm. Nevill.

1864: _Atacama_ (stone): by Mr. Alfred Lutschaunig.

1865-70: _Jamkheir_, _Lodran_, _Shytal_, _Supuhee_ and _Udipi:_ by the Secretary of State for India.

1865: _Nerft:_ by Prof. Grewingk.

1865: _Ski:_ by Prof. Kjerulf.

1867-70: _Goalpara_, _Gopalpur_, _Khetri_, _Moti-ka-nagla_, _Pulsora_ and _Sherghotty:_ by the Trustees of the Indian Museum. Calcutta.

1867-75: _Knyahinya_ and _Zsadány:_ by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

1869: _Krähenberg:_ by Dr. Neumayer.

1871: _Searsmont:_ by Dr. A. C. Hamlin.

1873: Fragments of thirteen meteorites already represented: by Mr. Benj. Bright.

1874: _Bethany_ (_Wild_): by the Trustees of the South African Museum, Capetown.

1875: _Amana:_ by Dr. G. Hinrichs.

1876: _Shingle Springs:_ by Mr. E. N. Winslow.

1876: _Rowton:_ by the Duke of Cleveland.

1877: _Khairpur_ and _Jhung:_ by Mr. A. Brandreth.

1877: _Verkhne-Dnieprovsk:_ by Prof. Koulibini.

1878: _Cronstad:_ by Mr. John Sanderson.

1878: _Santa Catharina:_ by Prof. Daubrée.

1879: _Imilac_, _Mount Hicks_ and _Serrania de Varas:_ by Mr. George Hicks.

1881: _Middlesbrough:_ by the Directors of the North Eastern Railway.

1882: _Veramin:_ by the Shah of Persia.

1882: _Vaca Muerta:_ by Mr. F. A. Eck.

1883: _Ogi:_ by Naotaro Nabeshima, formerly Daimiô of Ogi, Japan.

1885: _Ivanpah:_ by Mr. H. G. Hanks.

1885: _Youndegin:_ by the Rev. Charles G. Nicolay.

1885 _et seq_.: _Ambapur Nagla_, _Bishunpur_, _Bori_, _Chandpur_, _Dokáchi_, _Donga Kohrod_, _Esnandes_, _Gambat_, _Heidelberg_, _Kahangarai_, _Kodaikanal_, _Lalitpur_, _Nagaria_, _Nammianthal_, _Nawalpali_, _Pirthalla_, _Sindhri_, _Wessely_ and _Wöhler's iron:_ by the Director of the Geological Survey of India.

1885: _Lucky-Hill:_ by the Governors of the Jamaica Institute.

1886: _Nenntmannsdorf:_ by Dr. H. B. Geinitz.

1886: _Jenny's Creek:_ by Mr. John N. Tilden.

1887: _Djati-Pengilon:_ by the Government of the Netherlands.

1887, 1906: _Albuquerque:_ by Dr. Richard Pearce.

1889: _Bhagur_ and _Kalambi:_ by the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

1890: _Bendegó River:_ by the Director of the National Museum, Rio de Janeiro.

1891: _Dundrum:_ by the Board of Trinity College, Dublin.

1891: _Farmington:_ by Dr. G. F. Kunz.

1891-1903: _Barratta_ and _Thunda:_ by Prof. A. Liversidge, F.R.S.

1894: _Makariwa:_ by Prof. G. H. F. Ulrich.

1894: _Bherai:_ by the Nawab of Junagadh, India.

1895: _Concepcion:_ by Mr. W. Taylor.

1896: _Madrid:_ by Don Miguel Merino of Madrid.

1897: _Cold Bokkeveld:_ by Mrs. Whitwell.

1899, 1906: _Caperr:_ by the Director of the La Plata Museum.

1899: _El Ranchito_ (Bacubirito): by Mr. O. H. Howarth.

1899: _Kokstad:_ by the Trustees of the South African Museum.

1899: _Zomba:_ by Sir A. Sharpe, C.B., K.C.M.G., Mr. J. F. Cunningham, and Mr. J. McClounie.

1901: _Ness City:_ by Dr. H. A. Ward.

1903: _Caratash:_ by His Highness Kiamil Pasha.

1904: _Narraburra:_ by Mr. H. C. Russell, C.M.G., F.R.S.

1905: _Fukutomi, Oshima, Tanakami and Yon[=o]zu:_ by Dr. C. Ishikowa.

1905: _Kota-Kota:_ by Mr. A. J. Swann.

1907: _Kangra:_ by Prof. W. N. Hartley, F.R.S.

1908: _Uwet:_ by the Governor of Southern Nigeria.

Since the same year (1863) meteoritic exchanges have been made with the museums of Belgrade, Berlin, Blömfontein, Breslau, Calcutta, Calne, Cambridge, Chicago (Field Columbian Museum), Christiania, Debreczin, Dresden, Fremantle, Göttingen, Helsingfors, Munich, Odessa, Paris, Pau, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, St. Petersburg (Institute of Mines), South Africa, Stockholm, Sydney, Transylvania, Troyes, Utrecht, Vienna, Washington, Wisconsin University, and Yale College; and also with the following:--Dr. Abich of Dorpat, Dr. J. Auerbach of Moscow, Mr. S. C. H. Bailey of Cortlandt-on-Hudson, U.S.A., Prof. Baumhauer of Haarlem, Mr. C. S. Bement of Philadelphia, U.S.A., Dr. Breithaupt of Freiberg, Dr. A. Brezina of Vienna, Mr. J. B. Gregory of London, Prof. C. T. Jackson of Boston, U.S.A., Mr. Henry Ludlam of London, Prof. W. Mallet of Virginia, U.S.A., Prof. Vom Rath of Bonn, Prof. C. U. Shepard of New Haven, U.S.A., His Excellency Julien de Siemachko of St. Petersburg, Prof. Lawrence Smith of Louisville, U.S.A., Mr. J. N. Tilden of New York, U.S.A., and Dr. Henry A. Ward of Chicago, U.S.A.

In this way, by the generosity and self-denial of donors, by the somewhat difficult method of exchange, and by purchase, it has been possible to get together the fine representative collection of meteorites now in the British Museum.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF METEORITES.

* * * * *

_Most of the specimens here referred to are in Case 4 in the Pavilion at the end of the Mineral Gallery._

* * * * *

[Sidenote: The fall of stones from the sky formerly discredited.]

1. Till the beginning of the nineteenth century, the fall of stones from the sky was an event, the actuality of which neither men of science nor people in general could be brought to credit. Yet such falls have been recorded from the earliest times, and the records have occasionally been received as authentic by a whole nation. In most cases, however, the witnesses of such an event have been treated with the disrespect usually shown to reporters of the extraordinary, and have been laughed at for their supposed delusions: this is less to be wondered at when we remember that the witnesses of the arrival of a stone from the sky have usually been few in number, unaccustomed to exact observation, frightened both by what they saw and by what they heard, and have had a common tendency towards exaggeration and superstition.

[Sidenote: Ancient records.]

2. De Guignes in his Travels states that, according to old Chinese manuscripts, falls of stones have again and again been observed in China; the earliest mentioned is one which happened about 644 B.C.

A stone, famous through long ages,[1] fell in Phrygia and was preserved there for many generations. About 204 B.C. it was demanded from King Attalus and taken with great ceremony to Rome. It is described as "a black stone, in the figure of a cone, circular below and ending in an apex above."

In his History of Rome, Livy tells of a shower of stones on the Alban Mount, about 652 B.C., which so impressed the Senate that a nine days' solemn festival was decreed; as the shower lasted for two days, it was doubtless the result of volcanic action; other instances of the "rain of stones" in Italy, mentioned by the same author, had possibly a similar origin.

Plutarch relates the fall of a stone in Thrace about 470 B.C., during the time of Pindar, and according to Pliny, the stone was still preserved in his day, 500 years afterwards. The latter records two other falls, one in Asia Minor, the other in Macedonia.

[Sidenote: Worship of meteoric stones.]