I desire that you present this aerolite to the City of San Francisco, to be placed upon the Plaza, there to remain for the inspection of the people and for examination by the youth of the city forever. It will be a durable memento of the march of the Column from California.
I am, General, sincerely and respectfully,
Your friend and servant,
JAMES H. CARLETON,
Brigadier General U. S. A.
Soon after this mass of meteoric iron came into the possession of the city, I obtained permission from the Board of Supervisors to have sawn from it a small piece for analysis and for distribution to a few of the principal public institutions in this country and Europe having collections of aerolites; this has been done, and also a fine photograph of it taken by Mr. C. E. Watkins, of which copies will be forwarded, with the specimens of the mass itself, as convenient opportunity offers.
The piece intended for analytical examination was sent to Professor Brush of Yale College, and a letter has just been received from him giving the results, which will be found in the preceding pages, and which may appropriately be followed by a few remarks on the size and general appearance of the mass, with such other facts in regard to it as may be of general interest.
The weight of the mass of which the analysis is given above was six hundred and thirty-two pounds, when it arrived in this city, and about two pounds have been since cut from it.
Its shape is irregular, but in general it is that of a flattened elongated slab, having a length of four feet one inch and an average breadth of about eighteen inches; its thickness is irregular, varying from two to five inches. It has evidently been long used as an anvil, having been partly buried in the ground in an upright position, having a flat face of about four inches square on the top, with two holes drilled in the projecting edge for adding to the convenience of its use as a blacksmith’s anvil.
The mass is now placed in the Mayor’s office, it having been deemed inadvisable to expose it on the Plaza, as desired by the donor, on account of its liability to rust in the damp atmosphere of San Francisco, and the difficulty of securing it from injury by careless or mischievous handling.
Professor Brush remarks that “the composition of this meteorite corresponds very closely with that of another meteoric iron from Tucson” discovered by Mr. Bartlett and analyzed by Professor J. Lawrence Smith. A comparison of the analyses of Professors Brush and Smith and a reference to Mr. Bartlett’s work seem to render it highly probable, to say the least, that the two analyses were of pieces cut from the same mass.