The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1843-12-19

Ut 'he uhe ala not attempt TO determine Its con-
stltuents, Its fracture was not however, like tina,
of jelly, but it appeared to brake into cubes,
There is n possibility of this etcor having had its
origin much higher in the atmosphere than here sup
posed as its velocity appeared be very great
us heard no explosion by which it's true distance
and altiIud might have been determined, the eleva-
ton of one mile is but hypothesis. The meteor Of
The 18th August, 1888, described by Mr. Cavelo, in
the Philosophical Transactions of London FOR 1884
he places by vague and uncertain data ut an eleya-
ton from the earth Of 26A miles and prelends TO have
heard the explosion twelve minutes after at 80 miles
disance
May not each Of these eIlies be the residi Jun or
synthetieal result Of the combustion discharge Of
large portion of gases, through electrical agent?
The universal downward tendency of their motion
shows that their opecfc gravity is much more than of
the atmosphere, and that they therefore must be form
ed at the moment ordschurse.
The editor puts dcc lily after this, the account of
the shower Of flesh and blood that fell lately in South
Carolina, and says perhaps Mr. BIS theory will explain
It, There may be something in this and the sub
stances noticed in each may result from the
same cause, and that often laughed at under the
name of "a shower Of flesh and blood be very phil
osoPhic and true thing after all. But that Mr. b. is
mistaken in calling them meteors in the common &C.
ceptallon of that term. have hesitation in saw
ing Those hrery masses that pass rapidly through
The air, accompanied often with loud detonations and
throwing of fragments that reach the earth arc some
thing entirely different. These fragments are stone
and are hurled so violently TO be embedded in the
soil. The meteor described by Mr. Caveo, in 1888,
and to which Mr. Bennett refers, we take to be an
entirely different thing from ord mary shooting stars
That ii had great altitude is also highly probable,
for some ofthem most certainly have. The heavy
stones which they have frequently hurled to the earth
would have efiectuay demolished, we think the
maids milk pail. The substance of neieoric,sholrers
so called, no one Pretends to know. They are sup
posed, however, TO be entirely different from the ord
nary shooting stars.
The falling star that any one may sea ola clear
night has long been regarded by philosophers US a
geatinous matter, inflated with phosphurctted hydro
gen gas: and the splendid meteor Of MIR Bennett was
doubtless one ofthose ordinary shooting stars appear
ing very bright by its proximity The geatlnous sub
stance he found, accods with the experience and the
theory Of others and indeed is very singular s. curl
Gus coroboration OF them. That these Substances
must be formed at the moment of discharge
we do not think necessary Their ascent and descent
would depend entirely on the amount of gas they
contain. The idea of accounting for the showers of
hesh and blood on this theoryis certainly new to u.s.
and deserves, we think, n second thought ribnae
A SHOWER OF FLESH & BLOOD.
Mr. Editor; ! suppose it will be remembered by
some newspaper readers that in the year 1884, &C
counts were published of two showers of flesh and
blood: one in Tennessee and the other in Nassachu-
sclts. am now about to relate similar circum-
stance, which lately occurred in our own state Mr.
VIM NJ Inflow, gentleman Of undoubted veracity,
related it to me- follows: On Saturday last whilst
he and bis two sons picking cotton on his plan
tation Tin Laurens District, near Enoree river and
about two miles below Musgrave's NIl) the younger
son called to the others; who were u little distance
from him, to listen for he heard something falling
near him. They though, he mistaken, and paid
but little attention TO it: but he insisted and told
them to come, and he would show ii to them the
ground. They went and found the ground strewed
with what appeared to them to be pieces of meat !
varying from the size ofan ball to larger than
n hens egg These pieces very moist, and as |
red as blood or any thing else could make them and !
the grass, cotton, or whatever they came in contact
with was stained as with blood. They were scattered
several feet apart, over space ofground twenty
or thirty yards in width, and they examined 1t for
something like 60 yards in length but did not 90 to
the end Of it,
was informed of 1t yesterday, and went in COM
pany with two gentlemen to visit the place in person.
We were SO lucky to find some Of the article still
remaining, and all agreed that it had the appearance
of flesh, Of the finest mould, much finer than we had
ever seen before. Some Of the pieces seemed TO be
entirely fat, but mos, ean very red, and somewhat
transparent, when held up toward the lights but it
was considerably dried when saw it, having lain
"a hours
The young Wm Inflow, very intelligent and cred
ibe youth Of IA, says lie first heard few scattering
pieces full and looking up, the air darkened with
them; and that it looked something like FILLING
slowly, when the fakes far apart; but that the
pieces fell more rapidly The shower fell about the
middle of the day, while the shining, and n
few light clouds in the atmosphere: but nothing
visible could be assigned tho cause for the phe-
nomenon
Various opinions and conjec,ures exist hero about
he matter. Some consider it natural occurrence,