The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-06-27


4 they are not IN the slightest degree more il
d eXplicabe than are those analogous but MOI
familiar phenomena Of nightly occurrence
o known as shooting stars" The bodies thu
of frequently seen traversing the upper region
/ OF our atmosphere, are possibly, in many case
e of the same nature as those from which aero
:, lltes have been seen to descend, but US the
!: escape with exploding, they furnish rs wit
L no substantial contributions. They are often
no doubt, so rare in substance as to be entire
5 ly consumed in the blaze which marks thei
$ passage, and this seems particularly to be tn
: case with the vast numbers which appear il
r the occasional so-called ''star-showerS," lik
: that memorable one which occurred Oh til
: nsafiiag .pss tha I2tl' ff November. 1854
a Some of the hypothesis which have beel
: suggested to account for arolites would equal,
explain, and have been employed to explain
the phenomena of shooting stars. Others ar,
more limited in their applicability and leave
the latter class of phenomena to and an indie
: pendent solution.
You Will not expect me to 90 into discus
sion Of the merits of these several hypothesis
To do this would occupy much larger space
than can at present devote to the subject
1t will probably be sufficient to state, in brief
the substance Of the hypothesis themselves
In the first place, and before the actual fall OF
metoric bodies from the atmosphere had been
inconteStably proved, the burned and vitritied
appearance of the masses as they were occa-
slonally found, together with their general uni
fOrmity of chemical constitution, and their
dissimiarity to any other minerals, suggested
the idea that they are produced out of earthly
materials, by lightning strokes upon the spots
where they are found. 1t is true that no good
..,fs 49, .
could be given, but still the theory hld its ai-
herents, until the fact of the fall of the bodies
had been fully established.
Another SuppOSitiOn which has, in past
years, had the sanction of some eminent
names, attributed the origin of mectoric stones
to concretions formed in the atmosphere itself
of elements raised from the earth in gaseous
form. Hydrogen gas, having the power of
carrying with 1t, in gaseous combination, met
ais of d,ffereut kinds, and notably iron, this
gas was presumed to be the medium to con-
vey a sufficient quantity of such substances
into the upper regions Of the atmosphere, to
furnish material for the meteors; and then,
as this gas is highly intamable, it was supposed
to need only the occurrence of an electric
flash to bring on the necessary chemical ac-
ton. | need hardly say that modern chemis-
try finds in this hypothesis no adequate ac-
count of the matter, and even if the formation
Of the solid masses could be thus satisfactorily
explained their great velocity, and the drec
tons of their motions (arely, if ever, verticaI)
would still remain unexplained mysteries.
A third hypothesis has regarded nrolites
as projectlles thrown from terrestrial volcanoes.
| The difficulties in the way Of such mode of
accounting for the phenomena are entirely in
| Superab bic. The earth'S atmosphere offers so
enormous resistance to bodies moving swiftly
/ through it, that it could not fail to bring all
! todeS so thrown out back again to the surface
within very limited distance from the point
/ of projection; and, moreover, the power Of
| gravity toward the earth is so great as to re-
/ quire a projectile force too large, even had
! the earth no atmosphere, to be reasonably
/ looked for from such a source These bodies
| fall, moreover, on every part of the earth's
surface, hundreds and even thousands Of miles
from any active volcano
Still another mode of accounting for the
phenomena is one which received so far the
sanction Of the celebrated Laplace, as to have
baoas sniRthematiealy- demonstrated hy him to
be physically possible; and one which has still
its advocates among cur men of science. one
of whom-Dr. J. Lawrence Smith-read be-
for the American Association for the Advance
ment of Science, at their meet ng of April,
1854. very elaborate, and, it must be con-
fessed able argument in advocacy of this view.
According to this hypothesis, ereltes are
bodies projected from volcanoes in tf3 moon.
The moon has no atmosphere (none at least
sensible) and its force Of attraction is so much
less than that of the earth, that projectile
thrown Immediately toward this planet, with
a veloSity three or four times greater than
that of a cannon-ball (when it leaves the gum
that is TO say, with velocity of 800 or 5000
feet per second, would pass beyond the point
of equilibrium between the moon and earth, |
and would necessary come to US with velocity
derived from the fall Of about six and half
miles a second. Il must be observed, how
ever, that if not thrown exactly or very nearly |
in our direction, such body would go back |
to the moon. Notwithstanding the plausibili-
ty Of this hypothesis, it is by no means re- /
garding with favor in the scientific world gen. |
erallv.
hypothesis having some anology to this |
was originated early in this century, after the |
discovery OF two or three of the numerous
group of small planets whose orbits lie between |
Mars and Jupiter. 1t was q fayorite notion of /
DIR. Olbers, the discoverer Of the second of
those bodies, that there had once been larger
planet occupying this position in the solar syS-
TEN, which, by its explosion from some un
known cause, had produced the lesser ones
then recently brought to light; and he accor-
dinghy predicted that other fragments would
be subsequently discovered. The verifcation
of his prediction (there had in all, up to this
tme been detected nearly sixty,) secured for
this theory, for time, a somewhat general
favor, if not an absolute acceptation but the
study of the orbits of the entire group has
oh, &c 60 hair
Assuming however that such planetary ex
plosion had occurred, it was not very difficult
to believe that while the larger masses might
continue to follow pretty nearly the path of
the original planet, the minute fragments
might have been so widely scattered as toreach /
- some of them at least-to our own neigh |
borhood.
DR.. Day, late president of Yale college, |
threw out, many years ago, the idea that the |
earth NAV have minute satellites rev volviny |
about it, like the moon or revolving rather in
orbits much more l0ngated-Somethn. like |
those of comets-.hich bodies are ordinarily !
invisible because Of their small size, but which |
at their contact with our atmosphere in their
nearer approaches to the eartn, become visible |
to object to this t. cory, except that it can |
neither be proved nor disproved.
Another hypothesis, which may finally be |
mentioned, is perhaps more generally received |
than any of the foregoing; and this is one
which regards the bodies from which erolites
descend, rather as planets revolving round
the sun than as satellites attendant on the
earth. There are facts connected with shoot
ing stars which seem to render it necessary
to suppose that besides those large conSpcu-
Gus bodies which make up what is called the
solar system, there must be countless num-
Der of comparatively minute bodies revolving
round the sum- perhaps in rings or groups, or
possibly irregularly scattered at all distances
from the great central luminary. 1t we sup |
pose this we shall have no difficulty IN ac- /
counting for our frequent encounters win
such bodies. If in the earlier period OF tpe |
existence of the system, there were number
of these bodies in such vicinity to US as 10 pe
dangerous to the inhabitants OF this planet
the causes which made them dangerous
would have gradually cleared our pain OF
them, by bringing them down to the earth'
and those which continue to iall IN with US
must be regarded as only the remote ones
disturbed and drawn out OF Their path oy the
attractions of the earth and moon. If were
=, vontn,,e the expression of an opinion of my
own 7 should incline to adopt this theory.
Allowing, then, that ;erolites are portions
Of hodies foreign to the earth, which become /
momentarily luminous as they pass through |
our atmosphere, it only remains to assign
reason for this momentary brightness, and for |
the heat which manifestly attends it, and is
made evident by the accompanying express
sions and yitrification of the fragments which |
fall. Twenty years ago, this problem was |
less easy of solution than it is to-day, al- |
though twenty years ago the cause was stated
generally in the same terms as now. This
cause is the resistance which the moving mass
es encounter in their passage through the at
mosphere The relation Of heat to force, and
of force to heat, and the convertibIity of eth
er into the other are matters of comparatively
recent discovery. 1t may now be computed
with rigid exactness what amount of heat may
be produced by the expenditure of any given
amount of force.
A moving mass of matter is an embodied
e,roo If itS mnti0n be arreStad or cheekad