The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-12-06
HAHNVILLE LOUISIANA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER s, 1884,

move In direction from north to south,
and by extending their paths northerly
they seem to meet in the constellation
Perseus, near the northeastern horizon.
This is called the radiant point, and the
August meteors are called Perseids.
The November meteors are called
Leonids, because their radiant point is in
Leo. A Chinese record indicates the
fall of a great meteorite on January IA,
615 b. c., which "broke several chariots
and killed ten men," Another chronicle
Uniforms us that in the year 944 A. D.,
globes of fire trayersed the atmosphere
and burnt several houses" A shove!
of stones fell at Rome in 343 B. C.
Perhaps no other single meteorite
ever caused SO great a sensation.
or created so much interest in several
ways, as one seen to fall about noon in a
wheat-tield near Ensisheim, Germany, on
November Z, 1892. A strange and loud
noise was heard between eleven and
twelve in the morning over considera-
BILE portion of Southern Germany and
Switzerland, followed by a confused
roar, and the fall of a great stone from
the air. 1t was taken from depth OF
nearly six feet, and weighed two
hundred and sixty pounds. This mete-
orite was theme of general converse
ton for long time. The Emperor
Macmillan talked with the mobiles about
it, and they decided the occurrence to
be wonderful miracle from God. The
stone was ordered to be hung up in the
church at Ensisheim, not to be molested
by anyone. But the Emperor must
have two pieces of it one for himself
and one for the Duke of Austria. Many
people came to see the wonder, and ii
remained in the church for three
hundred years. In the turmoil Of the
French Revolution, 1890, it was re-
moved to Colmar, for greater safety.
and afterward restored to its resting
place. A fragment of this interesting
relic has been secured and placed in
the British Museum, and one in the
Garden of Plants. Paris.
On the 9th of Novemb Der, 1927, Pierre
Gassendi, a noted astronomer, witnessed
the fall of an aerolite surrounded by a
halo of rainbow colors. 1t was in the
southeast corner of France, and the
stone weighed fifty-nine pounds. He,
with others, then supposed it to have
come from volcano. In 1875, Deem
Der ID, afternoon, man blowing in a
field in the County of York, England,
heard q loud explosion, followed by a
kissing noise. He looked and saw a
stone falling, which went several feet
in the ground not far from where he
stood. Its weight was fifty-siX pounds
In Normandy, Northeastern France,
seen passing through the air with a
about one o'clock in the after
noon of the 26th of April,
1908, a very brilliant fire. ball was
rapid motion, and soon violent explo-
sion was heard, the sound of which was
prolonged five or six minutes. Then
fell an immense number of mineral
fragments, of which about three thou
sand were picked up, many of them
weighing several pounds, but none
more than seventeen. A stone weigh
ing nearly seven hundred pounds, and
about one thousand smaller ones, fell in
Hungary in 1866, and ON April 20, 1876,
a mass of meteoric iron. nearly eight
pounds, fell at Rowton, England. The
fall of this meteorite was preceded by a
noise like thunder, that shook the air
for many miles. It occurred near four
o'clock in the afternoon, and was quite
hot when dug from depth of eighteen
inches an hour afterward. These are
only a few of numerous meteoric phe
nomena which have been observed al
different times in many parts of the
world.--W DGtCSOn, IN Indianapolis
journal.