Its toughness and durability became well known wherever attempts were made to section these metallic meteorites. Specially designed and extra-powerful sawing equipment is required to slice meteoritic iron, and even with it, progress is painfully slow. So astounded were those who first tried to cut iron meteorites with ordinary metal saws that one of the earliest practical results was the development of battleship armor plate composed of a commercial alloy called “meteor steel,” which mimicked the composition of the iron meteorites. Of course, a good deal of the difficulty of sectioning meteorites arises from the fact that those doing the cutting are trying hard not to waste valuable meteoritic material. Every precaution is taken to keep the amount of “sawdust” to a minimum, for such finely ground up and contaminated meteoritic material is of little scientific use. And, in addition, scientists must guard against heating meteorites to high temperatures because such heating destroys the delicate internal structure of the masses. If these two considerations (loss of material and overheating) were unimportant, even a large meteorite could easily be divided up by use of such high-powered oxyacetylene torches as are used to dissect huge obsolete battleships. At the Institute of Meteoritics, a thin, water-cooled blade of soft iron is driven slowly back and forth by an electric motor. Carborundum grit in water suspension is fed evenly into the narrow cut over its entire length. This grit becomes imbedded in the lower edge of the soft iron blade, which then acts as a “many-toothed” metal saw. Several meteorites can be sectioned simultaneously by this multiblade saw. In the future, such newly developed methods as high-speed particle jet streams or ultrasonic devices may be used to section meteorites both rapidly and economically. In the field of cosmic ray studies, particularly those concerned with the protection of space travelers from harmful radiation, meteoritics can be of help. The recovered meteorites have already come through those regions that would be crossed by even the farthest-ranging spaceships. Consequently, a great deal can be learned from the study of meteorites about the intensity of the cosmic radiation that the crews of such ships must face once they get outside the earth’s protective air-shield.