The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1875-12-31
Correspondence. G
For the Republican.
The Meteor.

| on NcItl@H rNclllE9 Ill tWtli Y Hit
utcs after nine. very brilliant Me
tcOr flashed across the sky. for Il mo-
mcnt making all nearly as light as
day, and then suddenly disappeared
in the Southeast. About three min
utcs later Il crash followed, which
seemed very much like the simultan-
| eOuS discharge of a battery Of cannon.
Nearly everybody saw the blaze Of
light and heard the report, but few
were privileged 10 see the meteor it.
self. Concerning its direction it will
beimpossiblc to conclude, until re-
ports are gathered from other places.
Most ali who saw it from this point
agree that it came from y. \. W. and
passed to ). S. T. and exploded just
above the horizon. One man howev-
cr. who was walking on the south
side of the square towards the west,
says it was not seen in the n. W. at
all, but seemed entirely to the south.
Another saw it first TO the 5. w. and
nearly overhead. He says that it
| seemed to remain almost stationary
for moment and then to pass to the
S. f. SO close did it seem TO him
that nc instinctiycly lodged to save
his pate. Ncarl., all agree that two
| ~, Il n no
thrown off. Most of those who saw
it say it exploded at 4 height Of from
five to twelve degrees above the hori-
ZOn; while one who had q good posi-
ton for observation SAYS that it dis
appeared below the horizon without
exploding. 1t i impossible with the
imperfect data in Our possession 10
determine accurately either the di-
rcction, velocity, or height of the me-
tGor. If there were three minutes in
tervcning between the fash and the
report, it must have been then about
forty miles distant, and its height
would depend upon the angle it made
with the horizon. The hrilliancy Of
its light was very great; and 4 trav
ellcr who was at that time at Chari-
ton, Iowa, says that the phenomenon
created considerable excitement
there. People generally supposed it
to have been very near, yet from al
we can learn We must conclude that,
! if it fell to the earth at all. it must
have been many leagues from this
place.
The composition of mctcorites is
everywhere much the same, and the
same elements are found in the carth's
crust. The chief Of these are OXydc
of iron, silica, magHcsia, nickel, sui
phur. Their specific gravity is from
3 to 4. The velocity of mctcOrs is
very great, being several miles per
second, and in passing through our
atmosphere great light and heat are
| evolved. The origin OF mctcOritcs is
still in doubt. They were first sup
| posed TO be formed in or atmoS-
| phere, or to be thrown from some
| terrestrial or lunar volcano. All of
these theories are proved untrue.
| There is another theory strongly ar
gucd, that they proceed from the sun.
We know that tremendous eruptiOns
are continually taking place from the
surface of the sun. The velocity with
which these projections take place is
incredible, and some have undertaken
to prove that it is sufficiently great
to cast bodies within the orbit Of the
earth. If they succeed in proving
this clearly, there can be, perhaps, no
other objection TO the theory, since
| the elements Of metcOritCs are known
! to exist in the sun. There is still an
| other theory, which is the commonly
| received one, that the interpianetary
| spaces are filled with countless num-
| Der Of small bodies, revolving III very
eccentric orbits around the sun, and
| that the earth III her orbit encounters
many Of these masses. This leaves
the origin Of these bodies still unac-
counted for. Some have supposed
that they result from the bursting of
large planet between Mars and Ju-
piter; but that is hardly more likely
than that they were formed at the
| time when all the planets took their