The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-09-15
BvMBARDMENT FROM TIE SKY.
Why the. Earth Is Doinb-Proof. and the
Reason Why all the Aerolitcs do not
Reach Terra Fuma.

! Reason Why all the Aerolitcs do not
| Reach Terra Frma
at is lucky for Us that the earth has
such good bomb proof On the skyward
side" said the astronomer on Wednesday
morning las. Is he stood, coatless and
re.healed, OH the roof watching the
August meteors.
''Why?' asked tie reporter, peuting
as he clainbered up through the scu,,le.
hole
You'd have seen reason enough if you
had been UP here with me for the last
two hours, said the astronomer. why,
the earth has been undergoing regular
bombardnlcnt. It's not over vel. Took
at that fellow, how he skins You
would call it q shooting star. We'll,
there's rs ,l.lch rea4an for calling i, q
celestial shell. those British artiller-
lists could give their proectics velocity
ike that, they might plant their guns
Oh the Wclsl. mountains and shell every
troublesome tenant in Ireland out Of his
hut That meteo,oid was moving twenty
or thirty miles a second yet it could not
get through the bOmb-proof thst protects
the earth"
Where i, the bomb-proof?"
Why, right under your nose all
around yo" it's the atmosphere. When
the meteoroid5 strike the air that sur
rounds the earth tie heat produced in
consequence OF their tremendous velocity
runs up million degrees or more Sec
o'id, and in u twinkling they are chang
cd TO vapor. If they could get through
The atmosphere they would make it live
~ tor US. No man could tell at what in
slant he might be struck down by shot
from the SKY, for ncteorods arc plunging
into the atmosphere all the time at the
rate Of several millions day for the
whole earth. Al certain times, as about
the 10Th OF August and the 18th Of No
vcmbcr, they come in showers and fairly
lombard the earth. The soft air that
fans the check is 10 most of these pro-
Jectilcs from space rs inpenetrable as q
wall Of steel. Some Of them, however
are able TO penetrate to the earth, but
they are comparatively very few in num-
| Der. When a meteoroid strikes the earth
| it is called an aeroitc. No good muse
um of mineralogy is without one or more
| specimens OF these black .crusted, iron
like bodies. Humboldt tells Of two monks
who were killed by them, one at Crema,
in 1911, the other at Milan, in 1850. He
also relates that two Swedish sailors wore
killed by an uerolte on board their ship
in 1914. The thatched roofs Of houses
have been act on fire by aerolites, and
sheep and animals have been struck
dead in the fields by them Some think
it was shower Of aeroites that over
whelmed the Amcrites after they had
been whipped by Joshua, as described in
the Bible
"But these are rather ancient instan-
| ces"
| "Wcll, there are modern instances
enough. We are no safer than our fore
fathers. Hardly a year passes without
one or more masses Of mcteoric stone
falling in the neighborhood of human
habitations. In 1876 German farmer
was shot through the arm by n small
acorlite, which made Il hole like bullet.
In 1878 p boy at Hanau had piece OF
his thumb clipped off be burning stone
that fell from the sky. About two years
ago boy Mt Paterson, y. j., was said
to have been hit on the leg by an aerolite.
His story WAS doubted, but / believe it
WAS never disproved, and certainly it was
not impossible. a man is in more dan
ger of being killed by lightning than by
an aerolitc, but it would not be 80 if the
air did not protect him.
IF you will notice the direction of tile
meteoroids now falling. you will see that
they do seem to come from one point in
the constellation Perseu5. That is Pc
culiarity or all regular swarms of meteor.
oids. The radiant point shows the direc-
tiop in which the meteoroids are moving
with respect to the earths orbit If you
watch tne heavens ON the nights of No.
vcmber 10Th and 18th you will see
meteorids all seeming TO cone from a
! point in the constellation Lee. This
November swarm IL The moAt famous OF
MI. Some of the mctcoIo;ds belonging to
it appear every year, but once in about
33 years they fall in perfect showers.
They were seen by Humboldt in South
America, in 1899; in 1882 they appeared
III the United States, and in 1866 in Eu-
rope. They are due again in about eigh-
teen years. The shower in S33 is very
famous. /. caused more terror than the
most frightful comet ever did.
There is description by South
Carolina planter that has been frequent
ly quoted in astronomical works, but
never loses its interest:
L was suddenly awakened by the
most distressing cries ever fell on my
ears. Shrieks of horror and cries for
mercy could bear from most of the ne
| groB OF three plantations, amounting in all
to about six or eight bundled While
earnestly listening for the cause l heard
q faint Voice near the door calling my
name. arose, aud taking my sword,
stood q: the door. At this moment |
heard the same voice still beseeching me
to rise, and said: oh, my God the
world is on fire " | then opened the
door, and it is difficult to say which ex-
cited me the most, the awfulness of the
scene or the distressed cries of the ne.
| groes. Upwards Of one hundred lay
| PROSTATE upon the ground-some speech
| less and some with the bitterest cries :;
but most with their hands raised, i'm.
ploring God to save tho world and them.
| The scene was awful, for never did rain
fall much thicker than the meteors fell
toward the earth east, west, north and
south it WAS the same
There are many other records of great
meteoric showers, and in several instan.
ces the earth has been covered with de.
post of black or red dust after them.
Most Of these meteoroids are small bodies.
some, perhaps, not larger than peas.
Others are very large being several feet,
or even several yards in diameter. 1t ia
believed that shower of huge aerolites
must have fallen at some time in north
ern Mexico, for the ground has been
found strewn with masses of meteoric
iron a very famous aerolite fell at
4Egos Potamos about 400 wears before
Christ. It was said to be as large as two
millstones. Humboldt, who SAYS that the
stone suspended over the tomb of Mo-
n I'M nd