The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-08-19
METEORlTES.
BY PROFESSOR c. A. YOUNG.

In the present article we propose to con-
slider the so-called decorating meteors, or
6elides, which from time to time fall upon
the earth as masses of stone or metal. 1t
may indeed be question whether these
bodies really differ from the ordinary
meteors in anything but size; many of the
highest authorities think they do not
Still the fact that even during the most
remarkable meteoric showers no sound has
been heard, and not single fragment has
been known to reach the ground, seems to
warrant us in CHASING the bodies by them
selves, at least Professionally. They appear
to bear much the same relation to the
shooting stars which planets do towards
comets.
AS late as 1900, men of science in general
were disposed to be very skeptical as to
accounts of stones and iron falling from the
sky, and those who admitted the fact had
recourse to most curious and absurd hy-
potheses to account for it: some, for in
stance, thought the stones were formed in
the air by lightning, while others main
tanned that they came from volcanoes on
the earth or moon. Chladni, however, in
1894 published paper upon the origin of
remarkable mass of native iron found by
Pallas, the Russian explorer in Siberia,
maintaining it to be meteoric, as is now
universally admitted; and to strengthen his
position, he went into careful criticism of
various accounts of the fall of such bodies,
compiling a catalogue Of some 800, and
affirming their credbility. His reasoning
made an impression, but still failed to
enforce general assent until in 1908 an
event occurred which put an end to. all
skepticism. On the Goth of April, in that
year, meteor exploded over the village of
L'Aigle in Normandy, within s. miles of
Paris; and more than 1900 fragments, of
weights ranging from 20 pounds to frac-
ton of an ounce, were scattered over a
region of several miles. The Academy of
Sciences sent special committee to inves-
tigate the matter. They collected speci-
mems, took the sworn dispositions of those
who had witnessed the phenomena, and in
their report put the reality of the occur
renee beyond all possible doubt.
The phenomena which accompany the
fall of these bodies are much the same as
those of the shooting stars, except that
they are ordinarily far more brilliant; and
observers who are near the path of the
meteor usually hear rushing roar, like
that of heavy railroad train, accentuated
A.. u
sometimes heard at a distance of hundred
miles. At each of these explosions, whose
cause is only doubtfully explained, the
meteor changes its course or breaks into
fragments. In few instances, when the
fall took place in the daytime, no luminous
phenomena were seen, and in one or two
cases the fall of very small erolites has
been unaccompanied by noise. Thus, in
March, 1859, there was shower of little
stones in Harrison county, Indiana, one of
which, about as large as a marble, fell
within few feet of man and his wife
who were standing in their cabin, with no
other warning than the tearing of the mis-
sile through the leaves of the trees. The
Cudld ClSi VI tHO SlOuc, VI ScNeIdl
others which fell at the same time, removes
all doubt as to their meteoric origin.
There are several instances on record of
mischief done by meteors. In 1911, monk
was killed by one at Crema; in 1850, another
monk at Milan; and in 1914, two sailors on
ship in the Baltic. One of the arolites
which fell at Barbotan, in 1890, broke
through the roof of house and killed a
peasant and bullock.
When these bodies have fallen among
the ignorant and superstitious, they have
usually been regarded with great reverence,
and become objects Of worship. The Pal
ladium of ancient Troy, which by some
writer's is described as shapeless mass, is
the image of Diana of Ephesus that fell
down from Jupiter; and the mysterious
black stone of the Kaaba, at Mecca. The
stone which fell at Parnallee in Southern
India, in 1857, was for some time wor-
SHIPPED by the natives.
The number of meteoric falls is very
considerable, our cabinets now containing
specimens derived from nearly 800 different
localities; and if we added the specimens
which are supposed to be of meteoric origin,
though the date of their fall is unknown,
we must at least double the number. Re-
calling now how small portion of all that
reach the earth would ever be found be-
cause so much of her surface is covered
with water, or forest, or desert, it becomes
evident that the total number of such
events is to be counted by the thousand in
every century. In fact, the scientific ,journ-
ais usually contain the notices of some five
or six on the average every year.
Meteorites differ greatly in size. They
seldom fall singly; but the mass which
enters the atmosphere, chilled to the tenn
perature of interplanetary space, breaks
up, under the action of the sudden and
intense heat generated by the resistance of
the air, into fragments which, as a rule,
seldom exceed $50 lbs. in weight, while the
majority are much smaller, say from 20 lbs.
to "a few ounces. Since, however, the num-
Der of fragments is often very great, the
total weight of a single meteoric mass
sometimes amounts to tons. This seems
to have been the case with the shower of
stones which fell at Weston, Conn, in 1907,
and the more recent fall at New Concord,
Ohio, in 1860.
The different specimens from the same
fall OF course always closely resemble each
other, being merely fragments of single
mass; but arolites from different falls differ
widely in almost every respect, with, how
ever, few marked features of resemblance.
They are always coated with thin, black,
highly magnetic crust formed by super
fclal fusion, and they invariably contain a
considerable amount of iron, ranging from
~ or 20 per cent to more than 80. They
may, according to Maskelyne, be broadly
classified into three divisions: The iron
meteorites or siderites; the stony meteor
ties, or erolites (air stones); and an inter
mediate class represented by exceedingly