The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-06-27
Fom tie 1Nsmphts appeal.
Meteoric Showers.
UNIVERSITY OF Miss, June /. 1860.

e ment of leisure to reply. In asking my OPT
e ion in regard to the shower OF stones report
= to have taken place recently IN OHIO. | am
little in doubt as to whether you mean
raise a question concerning the credibillty
t this statement or of such statements IN gel
l eraI or whether admitting the truth of Il
$ alledged facts, YOU wish to know what theor
If anv, science has to offer TO account for them
The latter question, however, Is that which
I presume you to intend.
: Accounts OF the occasional fall OF stont
from the heavens are to be found IN writing
of almost every age but, until about the bl
ginning of the present century, they were tC
t most part rejected by all but the very credt
fs,us. aion OF ssecsses sefg 'ssHsrsssls iaiss
them with something more than distrust O
the 2Gth of Apri, 1903, there occurred, how
ever a phenomenon Of this kind IN the pre-
vince of Normandy in France, so remarks
BILE on account of the vast number of person
by whom it was witnessed, the extensive are
over which the attendant explosions wer
heard, and the circumstances that a care
iul investigation of all the facts was directl
afterward made by order of the French Gov
ernment, by NJ. Blot, member Of the Inst
tute of France, and one of the most emlnen
professors of physics which that country ha
ever produced, as to set at rest forever tn
question then settled, As to reality OF the fall
sometimes at least of meteorc stones from
the atmosphere.
1t is true that there had been earlier occur
rences of similar nature o which the ac
counts were too well authenticated to permI
them to be classed with the questionable tales
often mingled with circumstances manIfestlN
fabulous of the Greek and Roman writers
but no well attended incident of the kind has
attained anything like the not0rety which The
action of the French government, and the ac
tive interest taken in the subject by the mos
distinguished body Of scientific men in France
(and it may be added, in the world) i'm
| medately gave to this. The famous Italian
mathematician, Carbon, indeed. had detailed
the circumstances attendant on the fall o.
more than a thousand stones in one shower, al
a place not far from Milan, in the year 1910
| The largest Of these weighed one hundred and
! twenty 30 Inis GaSsendiI scarcely less
| famous French philosopher, about century
| later, had stated that he himself saw a flaming
| stone fall upon an eminence in Provence and
after describing the visible characteristics OF
| this stone, added that it weighed fifty nine
pounds. The diligence of more modern inves-
tigators has brought together accounts Of
many similar occurrences Of earlier date than
the present century anl some earlier than
either Of the two iust mentioned. One of the
most remarka le Of lHeSe was the fall of a stone
in the year 1872, at Ensishem, in Germany,
of the extraordinary weight OF 26u pounds
Between l75t and 1900, about Il dozen ex-
amples are recorded.
The number of well-auhenticated cases of
similar phenomena ,ciHsin the preSnt century,
is very considerable The cabinet Of the Brit
ish museum contains specimens of more than
thirty belonging to this period, whose place
and time Of fall are known. The total mum
ber of specimens in that collection, embracing
those whose times of fall are unknown, as
well as those in which the fall are unk nown, as
well as those in which the fall was witnessed
is about seventy The collection at Amherst
college, Mass made by Profess or Chas. L.
Shepard, is the largest in this country, and
with one exception, the largest in the world.
1t contained, in 1889, l24 specimens The
collection at Vienna. in Austria Cn the impe-
rial cabinet the only one which exceeds Pro-
fessor Shepard's contained in 1859, 139 speci-
mems af WHICH I6hsxe ialien since lStn. All
the large collections contain specimens which
fell in your own State of Tennessee, the latest
in point Of date in the catalogues, within this
area, having fallen near Carthage in the year
1917. The newest specimen from any To-
cality which kj,oo to be in any collection, is
from Harrison county, Indiana, and fell on
the 2Sth Of March, 1859. But as active col
lectors are almost yearly adding to the num-
Der Of their specimens and as hardly a year
passes, now that science has become so vigi-
Iant, without some new occurrence Of this
kind being noted. d. not doubt that many
cabinets are bv this time enriched with more
recent specimens.
In illustration of this remark, may OBJ
serve that the scientific journals contain no.
tices of at least four meteors attended with eX-
plosion Observed within the United States
during tie year 1859. The first of these was
the Indiana meteor Of March, mentioned
above the second was one observed in New
England and New York, on the lth of Au-
gust; the third is reported by Professor B.
W. Mcdonald, of Bethel college. in the JAN
uary number of Silman's Journal of Science,
as having passed over West Tennessee on the
1st of September and the fourth was very
remarkable meteor, seen from Connecticut
and MARYLAND. with detonations lasting fully
minute, on the 18th of November last.
From nv personal knowledge of the zeal of
Professor Shepard in investigating all facts of
this kind and in gathering visible evidences of
them, feel quite confident that some Of the
rocks Of the recent OHIO shower are already ia
Amherst
The number Of fragments which have fallen
on a single occasion has been very various.
Occasionally but a single mass has been known
to fall. but more usually there have been sew
eraI, and now and then vast number. In
the case of the Normandy shower above men,
toned, Mr. Blot stated, as the result of his in
vestigaton, that the total number must have
been several thousand. The detonatiOns, on
that occasion, were heard nearly a hundred
miles in every direction. The weight Of the
masses fallen has been no less various. The
smaller fragments have been OF but few Oun
ces-the larger Of many hundred pounds. The
heaviest have been principally or entirely of
iron alloyed with a cer tain proportion of
combination never found native in
minerals of terrestrial origin. There is one
specimen of this kind from South America in
the British museum, Gtself but part Of the
entire mass) which weighs 1.400 pounds.
There is another in the cabinet of Yale Col
lege, from Texas, of which the weight ex-
ceeds 1000 pounds.
DR. J. Lawrence Smith, of Louisville, quotes
(Silliman's Journal, March 1850 from the
manuscript journal of Commissioner Bartlett,
of the Mexican boundary, description of
mass of metercric iron still larger than either
of these above mentioned, existing at the
Hacienda de conception ten miles from Lapata,
Chihuahua. Its weight is stated, on the al-
thority of Senior Grquida, at three thousand,
eight hundred and fifty three pounds This
was the largest mass Of meteroic iron on the
recent discovery, by DR.. John Evans, United
States Geologist for Oregon, Of mass in that
Territory (now State,) of entirely unprece-
dented, and Of as yet imperfectly ascertained
dimensions. From the partial measurements
reported, it must weigh many tons.
The meteorological character of these ero-
lites is so peculiar, that chemists and mineral
ogists have now no difficulty in recognizing
specimen wherever found, though there may
have been no witnessing oft fall, and though
it may have possibly been lying for centuries
where it is found. The elements which en-
ter into their composition are few in number:
and among these, malleable iron combined
with nickel is almost or quite invariably pres
ent and sometimes in fact constitutes the en-
tire mass. Besides these chemical character
istics, theNmasses are also generally recogniza-
BILE by their peculiar appearance, and their su-
"A
appears to cover them, which is correctly de-
scribed by Lieut.. Tibball, in the letter which
you send me- This crust, which is usually
dark over those parts of the surface which
seem to have been external in the original mass
appears to extend, through with lighter tint,
over the fresh fractures made by the explosion.
When the masses have been examined as they
lay, Immediately after the fall, they have in
variably been found to be hot-often too hot
to be touched-and imbedded more or less
deeply in the earth by the force of the fall
In what I have thus far written, have
probably not touched the question which
chiefly interests you, and that is, what are
arolites, and where do they come from l
am sorry to be, obliged to say, science has as
do not mean, however to be understood that
there have not been spsc,Iations enough on
the subject but the very fact that many
widely differing hypotheses exist. is in itselfa a
proof that the true explanation is still among
= L. 4