found at depth a considerable amount of fused quartz (original
sandstone), and with it innumerable particles or sparks of fused
nickel-iron (original meteorite). A projectile of that size
penetrating eleven to twelve hundred feet into the rocky shell of the
globe must have produced a shock which was perceptible several hundred
miles away.

The great velocity ascribed to the supposed meteorite at the moment of
striking could be accounted for by the fact that it probably plunged
nearly vertically downward, for it formed a circular crater in the
rocky crust of the earth. In that case it would have been less
retarded by the resistance of the atmosphere than are meteorites which
enter the air at a lower angle and shoot ahead hundreds of miles until
friction has nearly destroyed their original motion when they drop
upon the earth. Some meteoric masses of great size, such as Peary's
iron meteorite found at Cape York, Greenland, and the almost equally
large mass discovered at Bacubirito, Mexico, appear to have penetrated
but slightly on striking the earth. This may be explained by supposing
that they pursued a long, horizontal course through the air before
falling. The result would be that, their original velocity having been
practically destroyed, they would drop to the ground with a velocity
nearly corresponding to that which gravity would impart within the
perpendicular distance of their final fall. A
six-hundred-and-sixty-pound meteorite, which fell at Knyahinya,
Hungary, striking at an angle of 27° from the vertical, penetrated the
ground to a depth of eleven feet.

It has been remarked that the Coon Butte meteorite may have fallen not
longer ago than a few thousand years. This is based upon the fact that
the geological indications favor the supposition that the event did