Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1883-04-13
SCIENTIFIC.


lished in pamphlet form a series OF
lectures recently delivered i'll the
Church of the Strangers, by Prof. c. A.
Young. In the one upon Meteors
and Comets occurs the following: II
think l may say that l will take for my
text this little piece Of stone which !
hold in my hand, and which to the
casual observer has nothing peculiar
about it. 1t is only little grayish
piece Of rock with dark crust upon
one side: but when ! tell you that it IS
a piece of one ofthose bodies that drop
frem the sky 70 The earth-a part OF
another world, in short that has
come to us from. the planetary abyss
tn INK it will have for US all new and
peculiar interest. The stone from
which this is a fragment fell in 1857, at
the village of Parnallee, in Southern
India. The Rev. HIS. Taylor, mis-
sionary of the American Board, who
was then stationed at that place. visit
ed the spot a short time after the
tall. OF the two stones which tell
| at the time, he obtained one and sent
to the Western Reserve College. This
body, which was somewhat larger than
mans head. was broken up for dis
tribution to different cabinets. some be.
ing reserved for the college cabinet
there, and other pieces being seEt to
the British Museum. Mr.. Taylor gives
the following account Of its fall, and it
is so good an account of what usually
happens under such circumstances that
will read it to you. 1.-TWO meteoric
stones fell on the twenty-eighth of Feb
bruary from clear sky, about noon,
near the village Of Parnallee, where
some of our Christian people live. The
smaller one weighs thirty seven pounds
and the larger one fell first, the smaller
one two or thee seconds later, and two
or three miles south of the first one.
The larger, falling into tenacious and
hard earth. sank into the ground but
two feet five inches: it came from the
north, making an angle with the verti.
cal OF about fifteen degrees. The
smaller one fell nearly perpendicular
ly and sank in the ground two feet
eight inches. AS there had been no
ram since they fell l vas able on going
there three days ago. (the letter was
written early IN ApriD, to measure their
depth, to see just the impression they
left when taken up, and to assure my
self by inquiry and observation as to
the stones having really fallen there.
Some children were picking cotton
within a few rods Of the first
when it fell, and two women
were standing near the place when the
second struck. A cloud of dust was
raised in each case, for the ground was
dry. and before night the large stone
was visited by crowds from the neigh
boring villages. The noise which the
stones made was terrific to all in the
vicinity, and was heard distinctly for
distance of from fifteen to twenty miles.
The people generally say that it lasted
twenty minutes. This last statement l
viii remark, in passing, is very fair
example of the exaggerated estimate of
time which people make under excite
ment. II is not at all probable that
the noise could have lasted FIVE. At
first it seemed so unlikely that stone
and iron should fall out ofthe sky that
it was pardonable for scientific men.
up to the beginning of the century to
doubt the fact. In 1903, however, an
event occurred which put an end to all
skepticlsm. On the 10th of April, Of
that year, at about halfpast one in the
afternoon a shower of stones fell within
elghty-ive miles of Paris, in Normandy.
There was about two thousand of them
weighing from eight ounces to seven
pounds filling space some seven
miles long and mile and half wide
The French Academy appointed a
committee to investigate the matter un-
der the Chairmanship of M. Blo., and
they looked INTO the thing thoroughly.
They talked to people who actually
burned their hands and dad sore fingers
from having burned their hands in
picking up stones when they had fallen.
That very same year. few weeks lat
ter. a stone struck a chimney in York
shire. England. That stone is persery.
ed in a cabinet, and has been analysed
and found to be very much like those
France. 1t the United States there
have been quite a number of cases of
this kind. In Western Connecticut,
ON December IA, 1907, a most remark.
able fall occurred. The meteor came
down through Massachusetts,. travel.
ing distance of eighty or ninety miles
before the pieces struck the earth.
There was about one thousand pounds |
weight in all, and some two or three
hundred pounds Of the specimens are
still in the Yale College, cabinet. 1nI