Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1843-11-24
SINGULAR

SINGULAR PHENOMENON. |
Mr.. James Arlington Bennett has written an
interesting and curious letter 10 the CONNER.
cial Advertiser respecting several meteors he
has noted during the last few years. Respect.
ing the first he says!
Being near the sea shore some years ago, In
the month Of August. ! observed a bright mete-
or descending right in front Of me, almost in a
perpendicular line, and not, to appearance, three
rods distant, and being between me and the sea
il mai ntained its light until it almost touched
the ground. A light shock instantly struck my
ear as though something had fallen. ap.
preached the spot, but there being only star.
light could see nothing. On feeling on the
ground, however, ! stuck my finger into some-
thing soft, which | found to have a most pecu.
liar fetid smell, like nothing that | had ever met
in the laboratory or any where else. Next NOR.
ming I examined the place ant found abou, two
pounds Of brown jelly, which had descended in
globular form, but had been broken by the fall
and formed a small segment Of a sphere. Hav.
ing no means Of either weighing or analysing
this matter, l passed it by with the conjecture
that it was the substance which forms these
meteors or falling stars The altitude of this
meteor could not be more than one hundred
yards.
The next fell in the pail Of his milk.maid, de.
poobitS tIC pdtuC hIitu VI JcIy WITHOUT neT 90.
serving its fall. The only effect of the shock
was to throw the pail a little on its side.
The third that presented itself was about the
latter end Of July, last year. Having gone to.
ward the stable between IL and IL o'clock, of a
very clear night, l noticed all of a sudden that
the East end Of the coach.house presented a
brilliant light, and turning to look for the cause
a most splendid meteor, which had run nearly
half its course, leaving a brilliant streak OF
light after it, was descending directly toward
me-, on an angle Of about As degrees, when it
Immediately ceased to shine. There goes a
jelly said I to myself, which I must hunt up in
the morning.
Mr.. Bennett marked the spot where it fell, and
next morning proceeded with a lad to find it,
1t had fallen farther off than he expected, and
he says:
passed four fields without success, when at
the W end OF the fifth field, a piece Of mead.
ow land, full half a mile from where l stood, to
my wonder and admiration I discovered, a little
on the right of the line in search, a body of dark
brown Jelly, exactly like one side Of a convex
lens, 3 feet in diameter but broken in to many
pieces by the fall. The stencil was most insult.
ferable. This body Of jelly before it fell must
have formed a globe Of from ten TO twelve inch.
es in diameter, if not more. This jelly, which
lay on the spot where it fell until the 18th of
September following, entirely destroyed all the
grass under and near it. Now I think that
taking the base line of a right angle triangle at
double the distance from where ] stood, and this
meteor having its formation at the head Of the
perpendicular, its altitude must be counted at
least one mile, as its downward course would
, trace the hypothenuse of the same triangle for
some distance.
l put a piece of this jelly on the Goals, the
odor from which drove the servants from the
kitchen. There arose neither flame nor smoke,
yet it extinguished the Goals where it lay. Be.
I ing very busy at the time | did not attempt tc
{ determine its constituents. Its fracture was
not, however, like that Of jelly, but it appeared
to break into cubes.
There is a possibility of this meteor having
) had its origin much higher in the atmosphere
/: than here supposed, as its velocity appeared to
be very great, but as I heard no explosion by
which its true distance and altitude might have
: been determined, the elevation of one mile is
but hypothesis. The meteor Of the 18th Au-
3 gust, 1888, described by Mr.. CaveIlo, in the
Philosophical Transactions of London for 1854
he places by vague and uncertain data at an
elevation from the earth Of 81 1.2 miles, and
pretends to have heard the explosion twelve
minutes after. at 100 miles distance!
May not each OF these jellies be the residium
or synthetical result Of the combustion or dis.
charge Of a large portion of gasses, through an
electrical agent! The universal downward
tendency Of their motion shows that their spc.
clfic gravity is much more than that of the at.
mosphere, and that they therefore must be form
ed at the moment of discharge.
The editor puts directly after this, the account
OF the shower Of flesh and blood that fell latel,
I in South Carolina, and says perhaps Mr.. b.
theory will explain it. There may be something
in this and the two substances noticed in eacl
= case may result from the same cause, and tina
Sn DCap IaprhoI NJ r,lor tbo ,a,.o aC a., l.,,
r er Of flesh and blood be a very philosophic and
{ true thing after all. But that Mr. b. is mistaken
? in calling them meteors in the common accep
$ tation of that term, we have no hesitation in say
2 ing. Those frery masses that pass SO rapid,
through the air, accompanied often with lou
detona,ions and throwing CT fragments tina
, reach the earth, are something entirely d ifcren'
These fragments are stone and are hurled sc
violently as to be embedded in the soil. Tit
meteor described by Mr.. Cavello, in lisa, ant
10 which Mr.. Bennett refers, we take to be al
entirely different thing from ordinary shooting
stars. That it had a great altitude is also high
" probable, for some of them most certainly
, have. The heavy stones which they have FIRE
quently hurled to the earth, would have cffec
|, tually demolished, we think, the maids mill
. pail. The substance Of the meteoric showers
|. SO called, no one pretends to know. They are
: supposed, however, 10 be entirely different from
the ordinary shooting stars.
The falling star that any one may see of a
, clear night, has long been regarded by philoso-
piers as a gelatinous matter, inflated with phos.
: phuretted hydrogen gas and the splendid me-
teor Of Mr.. Bennett was doubtless one of these
ordinary shooting stars appearing very bright by
its proximity. The gelatinous substance he
found, accords with the experience and theory
Of others, and indeed is a very singular and Gu.
rious confederation OF the II. That these sub.
stances must be formed at the moment of dis
charge we do not think necessary. Their as
cent and descent would depend entirely on the
amount of gas they contain. The idea Of &C.
counting for the showers Of Aesh and blood on
this theory is certainly new to US, and deserves
! ma think a Sococl sho,-ht T-J.,