Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-11-28
MEItOlsS.
Their Origin and Cause Where TO
I"oh tor Bhem Historical Notices
ct M.trsritrs.

Their origin nuu Cause here TO
L"nk tor Jhrn Historical Notices
at Mrt~orit"s.
Almo-, any clear night when the
moon i- absent. = lew melrorS may he
seen -liuuiing about through the sky
The, hook lk" Stars. and, with good
reason. ARE often called shooting stars
II should hc admitted that the real stars
arr nj very great and mostly unknown
distances. aud IN General. never appear
H. nn," with rc-p"ct 10 each other;
while mrteor~. ar shooting stars, are
never seen outside of orr atmosphere.
liut they originally exist entirely out
side being small solid bodies of metal
lie "r stony matter floating through
space. IN orbits around the sun. like
planets. In this orig gnal form they are
railrd mcicuruds. And when the earth
meets or passes near them they are at
irnctcd l., the earth with great force
and enter the atmosphere with amaz-
ing velocity. which develops heat so in
tcusc n to set them on fire. and they
burn with most brilliant LIGHT, thus
giving them u star-like appearance.
They generally burn up and vanish
while they are Vet high up in the sky.
Their visible paths are often only a few
degrees long. Indeed one is OCCASION
all, sccn without any apparent motion.
hr"an~r II moves right towards us.
Sumc II the larger ones burn longer,
With greater light. and leave Il reddish
train behind them. which is the red-h
ashes left streaming through the air,
and gradually disappears on cooling.
others. still larger. with brilliant
light. nearly reach the earth. and are
called iirr-b balls. Some of these
bodies probably Of still greater size -
fall Ia the earth and penetrate the
soil without being entirely consumed.
such bodies have been seen to fall and
taken up while they were still hot.
Others have been heard and found be-
fore they got cold. Such bodies are
called metcuritc> meteoric stones, and
sometimes acroliics stones from the
mir some are much smaller than ones
hand. others as large rs a good-sized
rock, weighing several hundred pounds.
A very singular meteoriie was found
many years ago near the village of Tue
son. Arizona. II was removed to the
Smithsonian Institution. at Washington,
In November. 1868. Its form is that of n
ring. about four feet in diameter. One
side IL much thicker and heavier than
the other. Its weight is about fourteen
hundred pounds Metcoric stones have
thus been deposited in many of the
worlds museums. and are valuable
scientific curio-tics.
Th 'sc minute planetary bodies wan
dering through space around the sun.
are much more numerous in some
places than Others, occasionally form
ing collective ring, in some parts of
which great numbers are met with.
Aud this accounts for the extraordinary
metcoric showers on record. suppose
nearly ever, body has heard of the won
dcrlul meteoric shower which occurred
early H. the morning Of November IS.
1853. IL seemed like all the stars of
heaven were increased in brightness
aud falling Ia the earth. The alarm
which itcaused was very great. Wonder
how many people would be scared by
such an exhibition in these latter DAYS!
A similar show. though not SO great,
was witnessed In 1799-just thirty-four
years before; and another still less,
though very considerable, in exactly
thirt, three Years afterwards, viz: No
ycmbcr II. 1866. But IL was much
more prominent in England than in
America.
Sometimes n large meteoroid strikes
the atmosphere with such violence as to
explode with loud noise, and break in
several pieces. which Hy.along in their
separate tracks. A noted example of
this Kind was seen by many persons in
this State at nine clock in the evening
~ December u. 1876. When meteor
ties are analyzcd and examined with a
microscope. they are found to be COM
posed largely of iron. mixed with other
substances. all of which are known to
exist on the earth. but in different pro-
portions at combinations. So that a
mcteortc. as n mass. is different from
any other body we know of, although
Of the same materials differently put to-
gether. Besides the group of meteor
olds which the earth passes. or pene-
traics, near the middle of November
each year. there is another which we
pass about the 10th Of August, when we
may expect that shooting stars will be
more numerous than they are in ordi-
nary clear nights.
Observations for n number of wears
show that the August mcteors generally
move In direction from north to south.
and by extending q their paths northerly
they seem Ia meet in the constellation
Per-cus. near the northeastern horizon.
This Is called the radiant point, and the
August meteors are called Perseids.
Tie November meieors are called
Ieonlds. because their radiant point is in
Leo. A Chinese record indicates the
fall of great meieotite on January Ia,
GlJ B G.. which "broke several chariots
ind hi -l tcn mem Another chronicle
''ini,rri. u. that ia & q wear ai4 4. d..
sl"Das "i Ire trn,-r>cd tine atmosphere
aud burnt several houses" A shower
~ STONES fell nj Rome in 343 Is. G.
Perhaps M other single meteorite
ever caused 50 great q sensation.
or created ~ much interest in several
ws,-. ~ one .eSn tofali about noon in n
" eat u II Gear Enssheim, Germany. OH
november I. ~. a strange and loud
~ 80 was heard between eleven and
t,clve In the morning over a considera-
nie portion of Southern Germany and
switzerland, followed by a confused
rear. and the fall Of great stone from
the mir. IL was taken from depth of
nearly six feet. and weighed :w1
hundred and sixty pounds. This mete-
oriie was theme Of general conversa-
tion for long time. The Emperor
Masimilian talked with the mobiles about
II. and they decided the occurrence to
bc wonderful miracle from God. The
stone was ordered to be hung up in the
church nj Ensishcim, not to be molested