New-York tribune., 1841-12-20
wy MORNING DECEMBER is&


are al aware tina; there frequently appear in tn,
atmosphere WHAT are calleI frs-jdils-grea; globe:
having luminous appearance, which rush with IN
conceivable veeciiy through the air ard fall upon tins
surface Of the Earth. The origin Of these Groinss
rRs,eors has been subject Of the greatest inter
est and the strictest inquiry The highest ntelects
have been directed 70 their solution and with some
success. To arrive at clear, philosophical cor
clu,on on point like this, il Is necessary first 10
determine what the effect "a be examined Is; then
we can ascertain with accuracy what are their
causes. These meteors, then, present the appear
ince of large luminous bodies rushing with great
,wiftnesS through the air and depositing upon lhe
Earth mass OF stony matter These dispositions
nave often been OF enormous magnitude, varying
from several hundred 10 4 lev pounds in weight.
their substance has been subjected 10 strict anal
ysis although it is scarcely proper to say that it
mas been anaiy-fd, because the substance pos
.essses no chemical union, but IS merely agglom-
Grafton Of diierent mstsri2ls wherever the which.
meteor appears, whether in Europe or America, are
composed of the same substances these are iron.
nickel, manganese. SUI phur. chromium, and occa
,ionaly charcoal Charcoal has never been found
out once; but its absence in other cases may be-
acc united for BY supYosing that the mass rushing
carbon is combined wih the oxygen OF the atmos-
here and is thus converted into carbonic acid and
dispersed so that if the meteor take long line
IN reaching the Earih the carbon will be quite lost
while in -lher cases it nav remain. In one case
only has il been fouad: in all other the com.
position OF the meteoric substance has been found
precisely the same.
he next noticeable fact Is that no bodies on
the Earih> surface have these same constituents, 10
that we cann7t suppose that they have been thrown
up from the larths surface and again return
Their constituents TO De sure, exist In other bodies
but not combined in the same way The metals
ron and nickel, moreover are found not in the
form Of oxides, they mrarid1iy are upon the
Earths suriace, bat in their pure metallic state
In approaching the earth, these meteors DO not
rome in perpendicular, but IN 4 very oblique d.
recton. This is eral point, will be seen
iercaftar The velocity with which ther fall Is
Utmost infinite 1t Is OF quiie different order from
hat OF the proie,ilrS upon the Earth. Ii we sup,
pose body let TALL from hight OF 10000 feet, Its
seloc, on reaching the Earth will not be compar-
able to that Of these rrotes
Thus we arein possession OF the main facts con.
nected with their appearance. Three suppostions
nave been advanced for explaining these extraordi-
iary appearances The first is seductive. rs il
.eels natural cause. 1t supposes that the con
,titucnr parts OF these meieorS really exist in II
.ery sublime and vigorous form lathe upper regions
It the atmosphere; that they are collected into
masses BY process similar to the fnrma,ion OF hail
tones and fall 10 the earth by their gravity.
The second is that advanced by Cladney, who sup
posed that these neteoTs were fragments OF bro
zen planet which circulate through space, small
o be visible; that they may be themselves PIa
..-L,
nally fall within the Earths atmosphere. and are
roughi to Its surface. tnird Is the most lmpOr-
mt both from its nature and from the high autho
iry by which it is supported-no less than that OF
.apInce. the Newton of France. He believed that
hey were bodies .jrcled from volcanoes in the
Noon, projected with velocity sufficient to send
hem out OF the Moons attraction. and into that OF
he Earth But Laplace, with that profound re-
earch characteristic Of his mind, did stop with
this conjecture; he accompanied 1t by
alculauons OF the amount of force required to pro-
Get The body to such distance. and showed h2ta
.elocity equal to FIVE and bali times that
# q cannon bali would be ali that would be rcquir-
ID He goes still further, and -upposes that bodies
rave been projected from our own volcanoes with
wen greater velocity than this. That there either
IRE or have been lunar volcanoes is evident from an
Inspection OF the Moons surface; and 1t matters
lot whether consider them as now active or as
ong since extinct for in the latter case II IS per-
,cjly compatible with the laws Of physics to sup
pose that these bodies have been. perhaps for hos-
ands of years, revolving around the Earth SUBJECT
o a variety Of disturbing causes.
I.etus review the claims OF these three SUPPOSE
ions to attention Against the first, that he mete-
,rs already exs, in The form OF yapor in the upper
regions Of the atmosphere. there are facts winch
must be fatal Admitting ,h. possibility that mas
.cs OF rhi, kind could be formed IN the air It Ia
ound that the sphere even IN It's upper regions
,asiains no sHch substance. bot, ana another
French astronomer, ascended IN balloon to the
night { 90 goo feet and bottled up portion OF the
air, which was found on analysis 10 consist OF pre-
,i,ev the same components that near the sur
face. Tina, this would be- the case is uyident from
a general law of gases--ihat il GASEOUS substances
be placed in free contact obey viii mix until tie
OF each are equally diiused A. mat
Ter of fact, then the constituents OF these er9llies
do not exist ia the atmosphere; and ev-n II they
did. il must be in an extremely aitenaaied form II
IRON existed in the AR must be the vePof OF iron
if nickel il must be the vapor OF nickel II 20,
thev would cOaiesce ana combine; and IN no other
way than chemical!y-by their natural atiiniueS
they would form mixed mass and not an asgIo-
meration--a mere mechanical collection ne me-
tails, moreover, would seize upon he oxygen OF the
aud we should have o.Etit' instead OF
the pure metals; we should have the oxide OF IRON
instead of iron But there Is another o6Jecuo2
which, with the others, must be quite fatal. II
they fell from the upper regions ct tie atmosphere
when there was no wind they would fall IN per
pendicular direction; AID il there we're wind the
deviation from his direction would be but silshi !:
their velocity moreover. wosld De only that due to
the hight from which they f! Il. But we know that
their veloclry i, of an order utterly beyond TINS,
and their direction is merely obhque Ike 'ha,
given by wind. bui almost horizontal All 'hesg
objections must be deemed fatal 10 the iiFS' and
mos, natural suPposit!on.
The second surposltion that OF Cladzey-t la'