COPYRIGHT, 1961, BY LINCOLN LaPAZ & JEAN LaPAZ
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

PREFACE

Meteoritics is the study of the only tangible entities that reachus from outer space. Except for the meteorites, scientists have to dependentirely on studies of some form of radiation for all their knowledgeof the wider cosmos lying outside of the atmosphere of the earth.And none of the radiations reaching us from various sources afar canbe held in the hand for examination. Each type of radiant energy incidentupon our earth—whether that energy be light from the sun orfrom the more distant stars or the galaxies, or the reflected light fromthe planets and moons of our Solar System, or the less familiar formsof radiation, such as radio waves and cosmic rays—must be measuredand permanently recorded by complicated instruments. Often the resultsgiven by even the most sensitive and tractable of these scientificrobots turn out to be exceedingly difficult for man, their master, tointerpret.

But the meteorites require no such temperamental instruments fortheir measurement. They are themselves a permanent record. Theycan be weighed, sectioned, and polished. They can be studied chemically,microscopically, and radiometrically. In fact, they can be investigateddirectly, just as they are themselves, in our hands, by anymethod modern science may be clever enough to devise.

This is why, now with the world’s attention drawn to ambitiousplans for the exploration of the cosmos, meteors and meteorites areof increasing interest and importance.

We have planned and written this book to be a sound and yetlargely nontechnical introduction to the science of meteoritics. Ourdaily experiences in the Institute of Meteoritics have afforded us a6fortunate advantage in making such a presentation. For, in additionto our work in the field, laboratory, and classrooms, we havefrequently conducted young people through the museum and workroomsof the Institute and so have had the opportunity of learningtheir point of view at the same time they were venturing into ours. Wehope our book will instill in the reader an abiding interest in the locationand protection, the recovery and preservation and especially inthe study of those cosmic missiles of iron, iron-stone, or stony compositionthat represent mankind’s only ponderable links with the vastuniverse lying beyond the limits of the earth’s atmosphere.

Although all photographs and special depictions not made by ourstaff are individu

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