Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-01-04
A New Theory of Falling stars.

On the 14th of May, 1864, a brilliant
meteor appeared in France, the most north
ern point of observation being Paris, and
4 the southermost on a line Immediately south
of Agen and Montauban, near where its
/ fragments fell. 1t moved from west to east
at an elevation of from Is deg. to 90 deg.
above the horizon, appearing ike fiery
! globe half the size of the moon, leaving be-
| hind luminous train that gradually faded
/ into white trace, like an elongated cloud.
4 To those residing near the point of explo-
sion it appeared larger than the moon, with
an oscillatory and rotatory motion, emitting
vivid sparks and bursts of vapor similar to
those escaping from heated green wood.
4 When the explosion took place, a jet of fire
1 threw fragments in all directions, cloud
was formed, and all disappeared. After
I space of time, varying according to the po-
sitions Of the Observers and extending from
/ 81 seconds to minutes dull but very in
! tense noise was heard, similar to dis
charge of artillery or the.r rolling of thunder.
Not q single sdetonation, like that resulting
from the firing of a musket, but as if it had
| been produced in each point where the aero
lite had successfully arrived, and had
reached the ear indifferent times on account
Of the unequal distances TO be traversed.
Immediately after the explosion of the
meteor and the cessation of the resulting
noise, an abundant shower of f-- stones
ensued. They came obliquely from west to
east, result Of their original rlpidity and
of gravity, and were warm; q farmer burnt
himself while pickingup one that fell on his
premises, and it was noticed that the turf
where they dropped was withered by their
| touch. Their surface had black coating like
! that noticed on over-baked bricks, showing
| that they had undergone O surface melting,
that could be afterward reproduced only by
! heating them in the flames of a bl0w-pipe
| and as it was necessary to warm them to a
/ white heat to obtain this condition, it must
| be admitted that they had that temperature
before they fell. 2
| 3 An analysis Of these stones showed that
they differed in nothing from terrestrial
substances. They were black, soft, and
could almost be kneaded; they made marks
! like q lead pencil, and contained sulphur
cited magnetic iron in small crystals, that
shone in the middle of the mass; they con-
tanned per cent. of carbon, which gave
! them their color. The presence of carbon
in aerolites has been previously ascertalned,
| but it is so rare that this is but the fourth
instance. 1t is not pure, but is combined
with hydrogen and oxygen, and, strange to
| say is a compound almost identical with the
scum formed in marshes by the decay Of
aquatic vegetation. There have also been
found in this new meteorite great quantities
| Of soluble salts that serve to cement a mass,
which, when plunged in water, drops in
pieces and falls to the bottom of the vessel.
The investigations made in relation to this
! subject show that the meteor certainly came
from spaces inaccessible to the senses, but
| that when it became luminous it was 164 900
! feet above the earth. The meteor had,
| therefore, entered our atmosphere when it
was first seen, and continued its course I'M
til within s., 480 or s., 800 feet of the earth,
when it exploded.
Air is the vehicle of sound; in proportion
as one rises, and as the air is rarefed, noises
lose their intensity. GayLussac and Blot
found that at a height of %, $40 feet, a pistol
shot sounded like the crack of whip. No
one has assembled 10000 feet, but it is
known that the pressure is there lessened
| by nine-tenths, and that all sounds must be
exceedingly weakened. But since this ex-
plosion was heard 49.5 miles, it must have
been produced on o mass, and with an in
tensity that gives great idea of the gran
deur of the phenomenon; and by deduction
from the comparison made by observers of
the size Of the meteor with that Of the moon,
it is ascerGained that it was from 984 to 1910
feet in diameter, or four or five times as
large as the cathedral Of Paris. It also
appears that it moved at the rate of 65, 900
feet per second--a speed comparable to
that of the earth in its revolution around
the sun. This fact alone authorizes the
presumption that it came from planetary
spaces, and was actually a star; but as the
following remarks are the result of previous
Investigations, applicable to all asteroids Of
the same nature, it is advisable to abandon
the particular example and elevate the sub
ject by generalizingtit.
In many places malleable masses are
found, almost entirely composed of iron, of
different nature from the neighboring rocks,
but themselves identical. Wherever found,
tradition tells that they fell from heaven
One, fragment of which is now in the mu-
| scum at Paris, was found by Pallas in Sibe-
! ria. The largest appears to be one at the
source Of the Yellow river, which is fifty
feet high. The Mongols, who call it the
rock of the North, say that it fell after the
appearance of a fiery meteor. The most
numerous ones are in the CHILEAN desert of
| Atacama, where they form two distinct
heaps, close together, lying on the ground,
and half buried as at the moment when they
! fell, and so abundant that they were carried
| to the port Of Cobia, and used to shoe mules.
Beside iron, these masses contain nickel j;
/ they are malleable enough to be easily
| forged, and there is no doubt that the in
habitants of the old world used them with
the same ease that they did gold, which ex-
plains their scarcity there and their abund-
ance in the deserts Of America DR.. VOL
laston recently confirmed this conjecture in
analyzlng the knives used by the Baffins
! Bay Esqulmaux, and, as they contained
nickel, he concluded they were made from
meteorlc iron. tits probable that that is
! the common origin of these different masses;
| but only one fall is well authenticated
| occurred in 1854, at Hradschina near Ag-
ram, in Crotia. The oldest aerolite fell in
1 Crete, in the year 1478 B. c. The priests
| Of Cybele preserved it in the temple as a
! personifcation of that goddess. The Chs
nese annals abound in statements ofmeteors.
| Ma-touan-h, In that country, and Chladni,
4 IN Europe, have catalogued these occur
rences. Since 1902 numerous savants have
/ devoted themselves 10 the investigation Of
! the nature of meteors, and the following
4 general results have been attained: When
/ of considerable size the meteors have the
/ characteristics of that Of the 14th of May
! the same splendor, the same train Of sparks
followed by continuing cloud, often an
! explosion, ana, finally, though not so fire.
/ quently, shower of stones. They are seen
/ Of all sizes; as they diminish, the distance
1 passed over by them decreases, and an ex-
! plosion becomes more untrequent. Thus,
insensibly, we come down to mere shooting