The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1879-02-20
How the Hoteor, BH>y Themselves In
Building Up the World.
SIETEDEIC DIST.

M CJwp.r RguvtrI has made a
c1mm Tlic.tisn Ip tie Astronomical
Society uu M-r-gEir dust, Iu which hr
iia- thrown 0Ht some interesting spec
Hia,i3H- .s t8 the explanation Of the
relative distribution al land and water
On the globe, and rs 10 geological eli
mates. lie saws that IneteJTic dust
exist t. a much greater extent than
WIS formerly SUSPECTED. In l-JI Dr.
PhipsOu published the result Of many
experiments in MANY countries. which
showed that. Joy exposing sheet of
glass covered with pure glycrrIuc. 20 Il
strong wind. hr has collected UI II
blacE. angular particles. which he E:Is
by chemical test found tD be- iron. Il
Is. however, only IN the winter months
that be- has found this to he the case
In l~.l DR. NurlenksiUld collected by
a magnet mcteDric iron PARTICLES from
Snow which 'IId fallen iIt-;ir Stockholm.
In l~1z he collected much of il from
SNOW living on ice in Finland. The
Arctic expedition of 1872 hal OppOrtu-
mites Of collecting SNOW FIR removed
from human haiitdtiOns, and they
found large portions Of magnetic par
ticlcs. NJ TisSamdieT, in 1ST4-J-G, pub
lished in the-C CO4lytss ReIEtH5 series
of papers on atmospheric dust, i'll
which, among other things, he has III
luded 10 the iron found in the dust,
collected Oh the towers of NOtre Dame.
Again, DIR. Walter Flight published in
the GeDiDgirll HHgdziHe in 1919 paper
in which lr collected the evidences Of
iron dust found i'm holes in the ice in
Greenland. Ia 1876 Mr.. John Murray
published Il paper in the Proceedings
of the Royal Society Of Edinburgh" in
which he gave an account Of his eXaIn=
inJtion of the bottom Of the oceans andt
and ScaS visited by Her MajeSty's ship
ChaiieItyer. In many of the deposits
magnetic PARTICLES were found. 1t
was suggested th2t the nickel present
prevented civilization, while the fact
that the meteOric particles which
had fallen into the sea had not
been washed away WAS attributed
To the water being deep and not near
the scOUTings Of land surfaces which
would cover il up. Again, in 1876, NJ
Ymg examined the iron particles
found iii the snow which had fallen at
the llOspice of st. Bernard. Mr.. Ray
uard submits that all these facts 90 to
show that meteOric matter falling in
the lapse of ages must materially con-
tribute TO the matter of the earth's
crust. In the course of a year millions
Of metcOrS enter the eaTth's atmOs-
pherc. Most of them are consumed in
the higher regions, but many particles
reach the earth without having under
gone change. There is little doubt
That high above the earth'S surface the
air is impregnated with dust The re-
searches of Won Nicsal show that
many Of the mcteOric masses enter the |
eaTth'S atmosphere in directions indi- |
eating that they do not belong TO our
solar system. 1t is, therefore, prOba- |
BILE that 4 large quantity of meteOric |
dust is derived from sources outside !
our system. The earth and the planets |
rs they are carried along with the sun /
in its motion through space would |
thus receive large proportion of |
lnetcOric matter on their northern
than on their southern hemisphereS,
and Mr.. Raynard suggests that this /
may account for the prepOnderating |
mass of continents in the northern
of the earth and for the
fact that the great peninsulas all taper |
LO the south. Another important in
ference to which Mr.. Raynard directs
attention is that it is known that
when meteOric masses are heated large /
amounts of Occluded gas are given off.
One of the results from Il continuous |
fall of mcteOric matter is that gaseous
matter is probably being continually
added To the atmosphere According
10 whether the earth were passing |
through region of space in which
here are many or few meteOrs, the |
height Of the atmosphere would be in
creased or decreased. When decreased,
the temperature at the sea level would |
be that Of our mountain tops, and a
glacial period would result. When in
creased. the temperature would proba-
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