Evening journal., 1889-07-05
HOW meTsoas SHOOT.
Not 50 Near rs They seem observations
in Various Quarters.

I
Georges county, on Wednesday night, as
published in the Sun Of the next day has
/ aroused much interest throughout the
state and city. Already reports have been
published from the Suns correspondents
in the lower part Of the state
Of similar meteoric display at about
! the same time. The reports have come
| from East Point and Solomons Island !,
from several points In the lower western
/ part of the state and from Salisbury and
Snow Hill, Md. Rev. K. w. Wroth Of
Darlington, Hartford county, Md. writes
TO the Sun that he, too, saw the meteor,
and il was beautiful sight. The meteor
was also seen about the same time at
Fallston, Hartford county. IL Itlighted up
the southern sky, appearing as large as
a dinner plate. By a corrected time
| piece It's appearance was noted at 81 min.
| utes past 3. 1t was observed to pass near
or under the planet Jupiter, which was
at the meridian at midnight of the oath
| ultimo. A correspondent of the Sun cal.
| culates that it's direction was 5. f. by f.
| There was, however, no report as Is com
mon when a meteor falls near a particu-
lar SPOT. BY estimating the depth Of the
atmosphere at 40 miles, and the average
diameter OF the earth at 1912 miles, the
correspondent shows that after it's inn
mersion In air, such a meteorite can be
seen at a distance OF little less than 900
miles. This is for sea level, the appar-
ent elevation Of the celestial visitor being
proportionate to the altitude Of the OBJ
| server.
He also gives details about meteor
seen ia his neighborhood on February z.
in daylight. 1t was the size of flour
| Aa 4 a Al
WAS seen TO burst without giving q re-
port The signal service reports for Feb.
ruary show that this meteor was seen all
over New Jersey and was still going
north. Then, continues the observer, in
a communication to The Sun, "If a me
teor were high enough for the sun to
shine on It, It might glow by reflected
| light, like the moon, although 1t be not
ignited by contact with the earth's
atmosphere and be visible when
| yet distant one thousand miles.
| At forty-five miles the air ceases to
reflect the light of the sun, but the air
may extend in a rarefed state thousands
of miles The air contained in mustard
seed will fill large receiver from which
the air has previously been exhausted.
According to calculations made by Pro
fessor Olmstead of Yale, the meteors of
the November showers of 1888 were visi-
BILE at distance between 1000 and 2, ,239
miles abovs the earth. So while meteors
may seem to fall in everybody's orchard
or in the woods adjoining farm houses for
hundreds of miles around, their actual
| place of rest may be a thousand miles
away. Or they may not fall to the earth
at all, the heat caused by friction against
the earth's atmosphere being sufficient to
yaporize even great mass. When this
is the case there descends to the earth
meteoric dust, and there is no good rea-
son to believe that this is constantly fall
ing. Magnetic bits of dust are found TO
make layer on the snow of Northern
Siberia, whilst the investigators on the
Challenger expedition brought up evi-
dence Of such deposit from the depths
Of the sea.
"The chemistry Of these meteors Is
also quite interesting. They may be
either silicates, that is, rocky in their
nature, or may be huge masses of iron,
such as have been found by Nordensk-
ioid, the LSwedish explorer in Greenland.
to weigh as much as 46, 900 pounds
These meteoric iron masses contain vary
ing quantities Of nickel, and cobalt, Of
sulphur and phosphorus, OF carbon in
the form of graphite, and traces Of
many metals, including the basis
Of arsenic. They are known to
contain compound Of nickel
phosphorous and iron. which Is not found
on our globe. The meteoric iron has very
peculiar properties when planed smooth
and treated with nitric acid Then either
rhombic foliations or parallel situations
are seen, while the plate itself will serve
to take proofs from in printing press,
such are the elevations of crystal forma.
tions. This iron from the skies is known
to have been the starting point Of the
manufacture Of utensils, especially for
. war among the ancients Such gifts
from the gods are still used for this pur.
pose by the Eskimo and the chiefs OF
Central Africa"
The explanation given by this observer
tallies with that given yesterday
) by gentleman of scientific
! tastes He said that. Just as MANY
expect to touch the horizon after they
! have passed the nearest hill top, so toe
the people who had seen the rare occur.
) renee Of precipitation from on higt
$ were misled into believing that it had
! fallen but few hundred yards or few
. miles from them. The accounts as giver
q IN the Suns dispatches were quite
clear. He called attention to the fact
that most Of these reports came
from the southern part Of the state, bu
that only meant that the people in thi
section were the more observant Al
> Salisbury the meteor was seen TO NOV,
from southwest to northeast at Solo
: mons Island 1t was seen in the south
. eastern heavens, whilst at Springfield Il
Q was moving toward Bowie which is {,
4 the northeast. This is quite a satisfac
tory account There was an explosion
and detonation near Snow Hill whicI
would make II appear that 1
fell thereabouts. "And,n said th
? gentleman, II am extremely anx
I ious to see some OF the frag
d ments. The phenomena OF a meteor beinI
seen over a wide range is not remarkable
A familiar case is where meteor whicl
q fell In Northern Indiana attracted atten
. tion in States as far West as Nebraska
/. as far East as Pennsylvania, in Wiscon
! sin and in Kentucky Explosions wer
: beard on this occasion everywhere east o
the Mississippi within sixty miles Of ii
path. In Illinois and adjoining state
I it was seen to break into frag
ments in the sky. The assumption
Of Prof. Newton and others, therefore
was that in this case the meteor first be
came visible in the Indian Territory
nearly 100 miles from the earth. Theme
1t went in nearly parallel line over th'
state of New York at height Of abou
half OF that at which first seen 1t pro
baby took but two mfnutes 70 mass owe