[meteorite-list] 1903 Mount Vernon Meteorite NPA

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: The Semi-Weekly Landmark
City: Statesville, North Carolina
Date: Tuesday, February 17, 1908
Page: 4 (of 4)

A Meteorite Supposed to Be a Piece of a Comet's Tail

Washington Dispatch, 8th.

     A remarkable meteorite weighing 330 pounds, arrived at the National 
Museum yesterday. This stone was recently found on a farm in Christian 
county, Kentucky.
     A member of the geological Survey who was sent to verify its 
genuineness says that the rock contains combinations of elements that never 
could have come into existence on the earth. In addition to this fact, while 
the meteorite measures barely a foot and a half in length or breadth, it is 
so heavy that it took several men to carry it. Scientists believe it was 
dropped from the tail of a comet passing within the earth's orbit, and they 
consider it a wonderful specimen, because, they say, at least three fourths 
of the falling meteorites are consumed in the atmosphere before reaching the 
earth's surface, or are broken in fragments.
     In appearance the rock is very rough, being covered with granules held 
together by metallic cement. It is mainly made up of the iron, 
characteristic only of ultra terrestrial object. It also contains a 
substance called lawrencite, which oxidizes so rapidly in this atmosphere 
that it cannot be perceived after a few moments' exposure. This is 
considered additional proof that the stone at one time belonged to a body in 
the solar system, where atmospheric conditions differ from those of the 
earth.
     This particular meteorite is called Pallasite, after a similar one 
found in Siberia in 1700. The curator purposes to cut the new exhibit in 
half and polish one side of it, that visitors may have an opportunity to see 
the peculiar elements which compose it.

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