large piece of silver, because
of its great weight and luster, but he was soon informed of his
mistake. Not long afterwards a white prospector who heard of the
discovery undertook to use it to his own advantage, by claiming that he
had found a mine of pure iron, which he offered for sale. In an
attempt to dispose of the property samples of the ore were sent east
for investigation. Some of the stone fell into the hands of Dr. Foote,
who pronounced it to be meteorite and of celestial origin.

Sir William Crookes in discussing the theory of the meteoric origin of
diamonds[2] says "the most striking confirmation of the meteoric theory
comes from Arizona. Here, on a broad open plain, over an area about
five miles in diameter, were scattered from one to two thousand masses
of metallic iron, the fragments varying in weight from half a ton to a
fraction of an ounce. There is little doubt that these masses formed
part of a meteorite shower, although no record exists as to when the
fall took place. Curiously enough, near the center, where most of the
meteoritics have been found, is a crater with raised edges three
quarters of a mile in diameter and about six hundred feet deep, bearing
exactly the appearance which would be produced had a mighty mass of
iron or falling star struck the ground, scattering in all directions,
and buried itself deep under the surface. Altogether ten tons of this
iron have been collected, and specimens of Canyon Diablo Meteorite are
in most collectors' cabinets.

"An ardent mineralogist, the late Dr. Foote, in cutting a section of
this meteorite, found the tools were injured by something vastly harder
than metallic iron, and an emery wheel used in grinding the iron had
been ruined. He examined the specimen chemically, and soon after
announced to the scientific world that the Canyon Diablo Meteorite
contained black and transparent diamonds. This startling discovery was
afterwards verified by Professors Friedel and Moissan, who found that
the Canyon Diablo Meteorite contained the three varieties of
carbon--diamond (transparent and black), graphite and amorphous carbon.
Since this revelation the search for diamonds in meteorites has
occupied the attention of chemists all over the world.

"Here, then, we have absolute proof of the truth of the meteoric
theory. Under atmospheric influences the iron would rapidly oxidize
and rust away, coloring the adjacent soil with red oxide of iron. The
meteo