The Osceola times., 1880-02-14
SODOM AND GOM0RRAH.
Feasibility that the Cities Of the Plain
Were Destroyed by Mstsors.
~

pos.ibility that the Cities OF the flAm
Were Destroyed by Mstsors
Y. Herald.
", Proctor writes from nion Decem.
har oa. "The idea that Sodom and Go
,norrah were destroyed by meteor1cc
downfall Is not altogether new one. 1
odvanced II. but not very seriously, sew
oral wears ago in the English Mechanic,
and Il was taken up quite seriously by
ON INGENIOUS. though rather fiery, cor
rasnondent of that journal, MIR. Z. l..
Garhett. the well-known architect. He
took nm the theory precisely in the form
in which / had, halfjestingly, suggested
II namely. that the meteor system
which produced the destruction of the
cities OF the Plain was the so-called No
vember system. which, at that remote
date would have been September sys-
fem. 1t can be shown that Temples
comet, in whose track the November me-
teors travel, must have passed near, and
passed very near, indeed to the earth at
about the time which tradition assigns to
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Moreover. there can be little doubt that
the comets meteor train was then far
more compact than 1t is at present.
Again, it is certain that among the me-
teors of the November system are many
which far exceed in size those seen dur
ing the display of November 1914, 1866;
for during the display OF November l3-
IA, 1888, some of the falling stars were
bright enough to cause distinct shadows
to be thrown. Supposing the meteors
form the comet itself, or very near to the
comet, to be larger yet, they would pro-
badly be able to break their way through
the air as the larger meteorites do, and
| if strewn with proportionate density, so
as to fall in the form of a compact stream,
they would descend as very destruct-
| i've shower upon whatever part of the
earth's surface happened to be most fully
exposed to them. .,ow, it happens,
strangely enough, that at the time men
| toned in the verse you quote-'Ihe sun
was risen upon the earth when Lot en-
tered into Zoer; then the Lord rained
upon Sodom and Gomorrah birthstone
and fire from the Lord out of Heaven
the destroyed cities lay almost certainly
on that disk of the earth which was
turned toward the radiant of the No.
vember meteors. If ever special and
not very large district of the earth could
be so rained upon by meteors that towns
in it could be destroyed, the catastrophe
would unquestonably be attended by
lust such circumstances as asthese-that is
the region would be as fully as possibl,
exposed to the hail Of meteors, and this
hail would be as heavy as possible
which would require that either the
comet itself, or part of its meteor trair
very close to the comet, should be thu
source OF the meteoric hail. In the Cast
, supposed, the velocity you have men
toned would be far exceeded, for no
only does the earth herself speed alon.
round the sun at the rate of / 100 mile
per minute, or IS miles per second, bu
| the November meteors travel with
greater velocity-about n miles per sec
ond-meeting her almost iull tits
that we have for the velocity with whicl
| the meteors rush through the air some
thing like 40 miles per second. Add Z
this that when the meteors of Novembe
, 1914, 1866, were examined with tn
spectroscope the element which wa
found to be most largely present Wa
sodium, the chief component of our com
mon salt, whence may be derived a ma
turalized' explanation OF the fate of Lot
, wife. Those who take in this theory 0
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorral
might possibly manage to find some evi
/ dence of heavy meteoric downfall Ii
that D. 1T of the earth. The search wou
be MS likely 10 be rewarded with success
, rs that which my esteemed friend IN
Able Moigno has suggested should b
made for the chariots, etc, Of the dc
! stroyed army Of Pharaoh