Tour the Smithsonian After its First Fifty Years

The Department of Minerals is one of restricted definition here, since from it has been separated everything geological or metallurgical, several hundred specimens of minerals, American and foreign, have been placed ready for exhibition in the drawers of tablecases, where they can be inspected by specialists. There is also beautifully exhibited under glass a loaned collection of minerals of the United States, the property of Mr. Joseph Wilcox, of Delaware Co., Penn. A collection of gems illustrates every commercial gem known. Two other objects of special interest here are the Tucson and Couch's meteorites, together with many smaller ones.

In regard to the Tucson meteorite, the following information is given by Mr. William H. Rees, chief clerk of the Sm. Inst. in his "Visitor's Guide to the Smithsonian Institution:"

"This meteorite, weighing 400 pounds, was first discovered in Sonora, Mexico, by Jesuit missionaries by whom it was considered a great curiosity, exciting much speculation as to its origin. In 1735 the 'Gran Capitan de las Provincias del Occidente,' Don Juan Baptists Anza, was induced to visit the meteorite, and found it at a place called 'Los Muchachos,' in the Sierra Madre, and struck with its appearance undertook to transport it to San Blas, then the nearest point of entry, with the view of carrying it to Spain. With this object it was brought as far as the Presidio, near Tucson, in Arizona, where it was left on account of the difficulty in carrying it further. It was then taken into the town of Tucson, set up vertically, and used as a kind of anvil. In 1857 Dr. B. J. D. Irwin found this meteorite lying in one of the streets of the village, half buried in the earth. As no one claimed it, he publicly announced his intention to take possession of it and forward it to the Smithsonian Institution. . . , The meteorite is in the shape of an immense signet ring, much heavier on one side, where it is nearly flat on its outer surface, and presents the face used as an anvil, The weight is 1,400 pounds. Its composition is principally of iron. The Couch meteorite was brought from Saltillo by Lieutenant, now General, Darius N. Couch, of the United States army. It was said to have come from the Sancha estate, about fifty miles from Santa Rosa, in the north of Coahuila. This meteorite, when discovered, was also in use as an anvil."

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