The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-11-22
REMNANTS OF CHAOS.

from constellation Leo. The meteor.
zone is so broad that it takes the
earth two or three days to traverse it
1t will be necessary, however, to wait
till 1899 for a grand star show, as this
immense group of tiny atoms travels
in an ellipse of such vast dimensions
as to require 1874 years to complete a
revolution. Astronomers tell US, the
reason we do not have star shower
every November is because the mete-
ors, instead of being uniformly dis
turbed throughout the zone, are prin-
cipally collected in great group in one
part oft. When the earth passes direct
ly through this principal group the
meteoric shower is 50 ID to be grand.
Not more than doz of these bril-
liant showers are on t.ecord, different
nations having handed down, since
near the end of the sixth century,
about this number. An Arabian his
torian says that in the year 500 "stars
shot hither and thither, and flew
against each other like a swarm of To-
Gusts. This phenomenon lasted until
daybreak. People were thrown into
CONSERVATION, and made supplication
to the Most High. There was never the
like seen except on the coming Of the
Messenger Of God, on whom be bene-
diction and peace" Humboldt tells
that, in 1899, while travelling on the
Andes, he saw before sunrise thou
sands of meteors in the space of four
hours, leaving track behind them
from five to ten degrees in length,
many of them having a nucleus as
bright as Jupiter. In 1888 there was
a shower marked by grandeur and
subIfmity. It wRs then that the
shower, in the meiNpEy of many peo-
pie still living, ssed over the
heavens like flakes Of snow. Many
accepted rhe~show"> the beginning
of The end, and from one side of the
world to the other sinners were
down upon their knees supplicating
their Maker in anticipation of being
Immediately ushered into his judg-
ment halls. The last shower observed
was seen in Europe in 1866. The next
real shower is looked for, as stated, in
1899. 1t is looked forward to with
very great interest by some of the as
tronomers, because it is hoped it will
prove contirmatory of important
scientific theories. The November
meteors are said to compose the tail
of Temples comet, a faint telescope
body discovered in 1865. This comet,
it is held, is slowly disintegrating, and
will, in the ages. certainly disappear.
The November meteors are known as
ga romance of astronomy" in
the history of heavenly bodies.
1t is asserted, that about
the year 126 this same comet
passed so near Uranus that the pow
erful attraction of the planet bent it
from it's former course and impris-
oned it within the bounds of the
solar system, causing it to describe an
immense ellipse, or gigantic hoop,
whose aphelion lies beyond the orbit
of Uranus, and whose perihelion rests
upon the earth's orbit. The period of
revolution of this meteor-zone is thir-
ty-three and quarter years, when
the earth passes through the nucleus
of the comet. Since they proceed
from point in constellation Leo they
are known as Leonides. The position
of this constellation makes
the meteoric display most observable
about 3 o'clock in the morning. But
the presence of falling stars" is by
nomeans confined to November. They
are seen at all seasons, and have given
rise to vast amount of fiction, Null
nations aerolite, in Tom Green coun-
ty, having created more profound
sensation throughout the world
than any other pleasur-
able fancy connected with
eccentric heavenly bodies. Nothing
is more beautiful in nature than one
of these grand falling stars" sweep
ing across the heavens and leaving in
its wake long line of meteoric sparks.
In the minds of most persons such
heavenly sights inspire awe; in very
few it might awake the genius of
fiction. A great number of these
bodies, of great and small degree, are
constantly falling. One authority
says, the average number of those suf-
liciently bright to be seen at night
with the naked eye is no less than
seven millions every twenty-four
hours. If we include the number
visible through telescope, the aver
age must be increased to four hun
dred millions. Interplanetary space
swarms with meteoric matter. The
work accomplished by these systems
made up of innumerable atoms of
cosmical dust, their origin, the part
they play in the economy of the uni
verse, and their mysterious associa-
ton with comets, are questions of the
deepest interest to astronomers.
They are the remnant OF that
darkness" which perva1ed all
things, when God said: "Let
there be Light" they are the
evidence of the progression of spheres
of the creation and the accommodations
of worlds, of great unseen, unde-
fined power that takes care of the
atoms as well as the great orbs
of the universe. 1t will be in
teresting IN the still morning hours
when Mercury heralds the approaching
God of day, to watch the eccentric
maneuvers of these wonderful little
visitors floating amid a waste of orbs
they seek to catch on to splendid. bril-
liant worlds, to live with them, to be
come associated with then
in brightness and beauty
to add their mite to the development
of globes and to the weight of spheres
Progression is the order of nature
These little solids are continually fall
ing among us and upon other heavenl.
bodies, and the earth of now is surely
not so small as it was billions O
years ago. Though this orl
always has been and Away
will be, it has certainly grown, ant
these little wanderers, through innu
merable ages, have added vastly to it
weight. May not great orbs, even
be made by them. They are remnant
IF ohonS md ont of chaos crrarr ~,