The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1874-02-27
P'epoird for Mc -EyiS d MftHiy,mccr.
Scientific Items.
NIETE0RS.

Metcors have given rise to various and curl
Gus theories. At first they were supposed to be
igneous or electrical formations within the at
mosphere of the earth, and at great distance
above its surface. The celebrated La Place sup
posed them to be solid matter elected from vol
canos on the moon; and being thrown beyond
the moons attraction, to be brought down to
the surface of the earth Allowing the moon to
have little or no atmosphere, it is found that it
would require an initial velocity of only ITO
feet per second or some four or five times the
velocity of u cannon ball, to throw mass OF
zlNlkkSi' beyond the moons attraction, and hence
4 NszE TO the earth The violence of volcanic
~ {iiI on on our planet would seem TO make such
4, 31'S55Nl 1t possible.
z fers supposed meicoric matter to consist of
81 issa. and stones thrown to an immense height
" w olcanos on the earth, and finally precpi-
X. VA back to MS surface.
z y $50 now known that they are planetary bodies
8Sa ~ ing in space. That there are revolving
ss ttH the sun, planets of all sizes, from Jupiter
Ntimes the magnitude of the earth, down to
3 ktherest grain; that the orbits of these little
ds, often more eccentric than the earth's
~ t, and more like the orbit of q comet, Tin
WI, many believe them the ditfused or scatter
distance of comets,) lie across the earth's Or
<Fand the earth in its annual path meets them
3 fthe crossing, and the atmosphere is filled with
%poting stars They are supposed to be cold
~ Opaque till they are brought down into the
Mth's atmosphere, when by their planetary We
s9Aeity, probably thousands of miles per hour,
81 y SO compress the air that they are heated
an intense heat, and every thing but the more
XII i'd parts burned away. These come down to
III c earth and have been often found and analyZ-
~. The uniformity Of their composition indi.
gates for all common origin, and while the
#tombination is unlike anything found native
Apon the earth, the elements are all familiar
20 us. They are composed of slick, magnesia,
sSsulphur iron in metallic state, (ncycr SO found
1native) Nickel and some traces OF chrome. Some
Rarc OF loose cellular structure, filled with
q stony matter. By far the greater proportion of
Pine mass Is always iron, next in quantity, nickel.
In the July number QSi3) Of the american
journal Of ScieRce there is an engraving represent
T,lng metalhe mass found in Eidorado county,
California, in March, 1872, weighing So pounds
~ analysis Of shaving of this mass gave iron,
81, Nickel II, besides ten other clements in very
small quantities. among them carbon, phospho.
rus, sulphur aud potassium. 1t is interesting
TO deduce from the composition of these strang.
ers wandering in here from the heavenly spaces,
that probably the composition Of I'LL matter in
our system, If not in the entire universe, is cs.
sentially the same; We tInd no elements in them
that are not found upon the earth.
eann9t resist tie temptation to quote . few
paragraphs from description of u meteorie
Shower observed in Italy, November eth and
2Sth, 1872. See 4iD,e,icdt Journal Of Science,
February number, QS13,) page l2G:l
"a great meteoric shower, the greatest hitler
10 observed III our country, WAS seen yesterday
evening ut lhls observatory; and am sure that
tmust have been observed likewise in many 9th
places. II commenced with the dusk, and the
meteors kept falling till after midnight, and
must have continued still later, but fog pre-
vented us from following them longer.
"Thirty-three thousand four hundred mcteors
were counted here In six hours, from half.pas
six to halfpast twelve, By four observers This
number, moreover, only represents incomplete
ly,he real extent of the metcoric shower, because
in the first hour of the night, and especially in
the hour of the maximum fall, which was about
eight o'clock, there was in some regions of the
heavens, truly rain OF fire, similar in every re-
spect to what is seen at the explosion of what
are called grenades in artificial fire works 1t
was indeed continuous and the hocks of fire fell
as ifyerically in clouds, and like rain rather than
thinly or moderately 50 that il was impossible
TO note any but the most remarkable among
Lien. ~ this time our Observers counted about
four hundred meteors each minute and a-half
MANY mecors showed the most varied and
8 delicate colors; many Others were followed by
broad and brilliant tracks of fire. Very frequent.
ly balls of dazzling light, some with diameter
little less than that Of the moon, were SEEN"
&. q. c.