* Astronomy

Title: On the meteorite from Rich Mountain, Jackson County, North Carolina
Authors: Merrill, George P. Tassin, Wirt

The meteorite described below was received at the United States National Museum from Prof. H. H. Brimley, curator of the State Museum at Raleigh, North Carolina. To him I am also indebted for most of the information relative to its fall.
The exact date of fall can not be given, but it is stated as " about the 20th of June, 1903, and 2 o'clock in the day."' Concerning the phenomena of the fall, the following is gleaned from a letter of Mr. E. A. Cook, of Rich Mountain, to Mr. Brimley:
"It [the meteorite] was going nearly due south; I did not see it, though it passed directly over my place. It made a rumbling sound something like a tornado of wind, or the pouring of water." The explosion Mr. Cook compares to a "large blast,'' the first and loudest being followed by lesser sounds, compared to the shooting of a self- acting pistol. Reports from the adjacent parts of South Carolina were to the effect that the passage of the stone was heard and seen there, and it created great excitement. It was also seen by people living 10 miles northwest of Rich Mountain, who reported it as looking like a ball of fire the size of a flour barrel. The single piece secured passed through the top of a green tree, cutting off the leaves and small limbs, and struck the ground not more than 40 feet from a man standing in a field, who dug it up and gave it to Mr. Cook. Other fragments were reported to have been found across the State line in South Carolina. Such, however, have not come into the possession of the writer, nor has he been able to get track of them. The single piece which has thus far come to light is that shown in Plate XVI, which weighed 668 grams; actual size, 122 mm. in length; 76 mm. in breadth by 44 mm. in thickness.

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