Regular Meeting, July 20th, 1863.
Dr. Ayres in the Chair.
Twelve members present.
J. B. Bayerque, Esq., was elected a Life Member.
Donation to the Cabinet: A number of birds and quadrupeds were deposited by Mr. W. W. Holder.
Donations to the Library:
Ascent of Pike’s Peak by Dr. C. C. Parry. Biennial Report of the Chicago Historical Society to the Governor of Illinois.
The Corresponding Secretary read a letter from Samuel H. Scudder, Esq., to Dr. Behr, from which the following extracts are taken:
“Through the kindness of Mr. Edwards, I have had the opportunity of looking at your two recent papers on Argynnides and on Danais, and have been much interested therein. Reading the latter article, I instantly had recalled to me some statements in regard to localization of the species at the Sandwich Islands by the sons of one or two American missionaries long resident there—gentlemen in every way to be depended on for common accuracy—by those statements I was led to an opposite conclusion from yours in regard to the means by which it was introduced; and since I have read your paper I have met with Dr. Gulick, for some time a missionary at Ascension Island, one of the Micronesian group, now in America for his health, from whom I have received some additional facts. They all concur in stating that this butterfly was formerly wanting at the Sandwich Islands, and spread over the Islands just as fast as did the milk-weed upon which they feed—the two keeping pace with one another. Dr. Gulick makes some more definite statements; he says that a gentleman in Hawaii sent him on Ascension Island (2,000 or 3,000 miles distant) a large box of plants under glass; that when they reached Ascension Island he found among them the milk-weed, which was set out with others; in five or six weeks they reached maturity, and then they discovered upon them the larvæ of Danais which nearly destroyed them—the natives have never before seen them and the butterfly was altogether unknown, indeed, no such large and showy butterfly exists there. Subsequently and purposely, as an experiment, he took some seeds to the opposite side of the Island, twenty-five miles distant, and sowed them, and was absent some four or five months; when he returned the larvæ were there. A gentleman and the natives had been put upon the watch by him for the butterflies but none had been seen, and these larvæ changing produced the first they had any of them seen.
“It seems to me that the appearance of the larvæ on the transported plant in its early growth leaves but little room to doubt that the eggs of the insect were transported also in the Wardian case.”
Prof. Whitney read the following notice of the large mass of meteoric iron now in this city, on its way to the Smithsonian Institution:
By a singular coincidence, we have now the pleasure of seeing in this city the two great masses of meteoric iron which have been so often spoken of as being at Tucson, in Arizona, one of which was brought here and presented to the city by General Carleton, in November last, a notice of which, with an analysis, has already appeared in our proceedings. This mass may properly be designated as the “Carleton (Tucson) Meteoric Iron,” while the one which is destined for the Smithsonian Institution may be called the “Ainsa (Tucson) Meteoric Iron,” as it has been rendered accessible for scientific investigation by Mr. Jesus M. Ainsa, as will be seen by the following memorandum of the circumstance kindly furnished by his brother, Mr. James M. Ainsa:
“This aerolite was first discovered by the early Jesuit Missionaries in the mountains called the ‘Sierra de la Madera,’ near Tucson.
“In 1735, El Capitan de las Provincias del Occidente, Don Juan Bautista Anza, induced by the accounts of the science-loving Jesuits, ordered the aerolite to be removed from the mountains, with the intention of sending it to Spain. However, through the want of wagon roads and the proper means of conveyance at that time, to take it to San Blas, then the nearest port of entry, the attempt was entirely abandoned.
“The aerolite was left at Tucson, where it continued to attract the attention of the scientific men who visited that country for more than a hundred years. Since the acquisition of Arizona by the United States, greater notice has been taken of this aerolite, it having been mentioned several times in the official reports of the Government agents.
“By a singular coincidence, Augustin Ainsa, the great-grandson of Don Juan Bautista Anza, undertook, in 1860, to transport the aerolite and present it to the Smithsonian Institution. With great difficulty it was brought as far as the Yñigo hacienda, where it remained until May, 1863, when Jesus M. Ainsa, in his late visit to Sonora, brought it to this city, with the intention of forwarding it to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, where it will soon be sent.”
At present the mass in question lies upon the steps of the Custom House, where it has been most admirably photographed by Mr. Watkins.[2]
It was said by Mr. Ainsa to weigh 1,600 pounds.
The shape of this meteoric mass is very peculiar; and, at first, it would hardly be recognized as the identical specimen figured by Mr. Bartlett at Tucson, especially as this gentleman estimated its weight at 600 pounds only. Instead of being, as Mr. Bartlett supposed, a mass supported on two legs, it is, in reality, a ring of metal, of very irregular dimensions, of which about one-quarter was buried in the ground, in order to support it in a convenient position for use as an anvil, when it was seen by him at Tucson.
The dimensions of this ring are as follows:
| Greatest exterior diameter | 49 | inches. |
| Least exterior diameter | 38 | ” |
| Greatest width of central opening | 26½ | ” |
| Least width of central opening | 23 | ” |
| Greatest thickness at right angles to plane of ring | 10 | ” |
| Width of thickest part of the ring | 17½ | ” |
| Width of narrowest part | 2¾ | ” |
The weight of the mass corresponds, taking the specific gravity at 7.2, with a circle-ring, having an average width of one foot, and a thickness of a small fraction less than eight inches—the diameter of the circle represented by the exterior of the ring being assumed as four feet.
On examining with a magnifying glass a fractured surface of the mass, it was seen at once to be different in composition from the Carleton Meteoric Iron, and my conjecture that Prof. Smith was mistaken in supposing that he analyzed a fragment from the mass figured by Mr. Bartlett, was confirmed.[3] It is now almost certain that Messrs. Brush and Smith did analyze fragments of the same meteoric iron.
The Ainsa Meteoric Iron contains a large per centage of a white—almost transparent—silicious mineral, having a vitreous lustre, which may be olivine; but the amount seems larger than that in the Carleton mass. The Smithsonian Institution will undoubtedly cause a chemical investigation to be made of this superb meteoric mass, and it will be interesting to compare its composition with that of the Carleton meteorite, as the two were found so near each other that they may be supposed to have formed portions of the same body, and to have fallen at the same time.
The photograph was taken by Mr. Watkins, at my request, partly to be sent abroad as a specimen of the high degree of perfection which has been attained by this gentleman in this department of art, and partly that an exact representation might be secured of this very remarkable body, in case it should be lost or captured on its way to Washington.
In concluding this notice, the following statement is given of all that is known of the size and position of the masses of meteoric iron which have been noticed by various travelers in Arizona and the adjacent portions of Mexico and New Mexico.
In the Madera range, “Sierra de la Madera,” between Tucson and Tubac, “enormous masses of pure iron, some of which were transported to Tucson, and for many years were to be seen in the Plaza of that Presidio.” Francisco Velasco, in W. F. Nye’s Translation of his work on Sonora, p. 146, published at San Francisco in 1861.—Two of these masses have been brought to this city, the one weighing 1,600, the other 632 pounds; the question arises, how many more are left in the Sierra Madera? To this, no answer can be given at present.
“At the Hacienda de Concepcion, on the road from Chihuahua to Rio Florida,” a mass of meteoric iron estimated to weigh 3,853 lbs.—Bartlett. The exact locality of this hacienda I have not been able to ascertain.
“Ninety miles north-west of Santa Rosa,” supposed to be the Santa Rosa in the province of Coahuila, in Mexico, lat. 28°, long. 101° 30’; Ass’t A. Schott, of the Mexican Boundary Survey, reports a large number of masses of meteoric iron; see page 34, Part II, of Major Emory’s Report. This statement needs confirmation.
“Sancha Estate, some fifty or sixty miles from Santa Rosa, in the north of Coahuila.” This is the locality of the mass of meteoric iron, weighing 252 pounds, and now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, figured, described and analyzed by Professor Smith; see Smithsonian Report for 1855, p. 154, and Silliman’s Journal, (2) XIX, 160. Professor Smith says, “various accounts were given of the precise locality, but none seemed very satisfactory.” It is not unlikely that this mass is from the same locality mentioned by Mr. Schott.
“Near the South-western edge of the Balson de Mapimi, on the route to the Mines of Parral, there is a meteorite, near the road, of not less than a ton weight;” on the authority of Mr. Weidner, of the mines of Freiberg, as stated by Professor Smith (Smithsonian Report for 1855, page 155), Mapimi is in lon. 103° 30’; lat. 25° 45’ nearly.
“At the Hacienda of Venagas, there was (1827) a piece of iron that would make a cylinder, one yard in length, with a diameter of ten inches. It was said to have been brought from the mountains near the Hacienda.” Professor Smith, on the authority of Dr. Berlandier (Smithsonian Report for 1855, p. 155), makes the above statement; the exact locality of the Hacienda I have been unable to ascertain; it is probably nearly in lat. 24°, lon. 101°.
La Paz, New Mexico, near the Colorado River, about lat. 33° 30’. A mass of meteoric iron, weighing 10 pounds, was brought from that locality, in 1862, by Mr. H. Ehrenberg.
A number of other localities of meteoric iron might be added from more southern and central portions of Mexico; but as that is a region to which the attention of Californian explorers and capitalists has not yet been much directed, it will not be necessary to cite them here. It is hoped that the circulation of the above list may be the means of procuring further information in regard to the masses of iron noticed; and that, possibly, more of them may be brought to San Francisco.
[2] The mass was shipped on the Panama steamer, which sailed from San Francisco on the 3d of August.
[3] See [page 34], of this volume.