The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-07
From lhe PailaFeIphi IA Press.

Iato the Widest Reaches of the Prob
lem of Life.
From the Philadelphia Press.
WASHINGTON, Sept. S.-Of all the
curiosities which the wise men of the Asso-
citation for the Advancement OF Science
brought to Washington for exhibition to
their fellows, the most extraordinary was
mete 3rite with diamonds in 1t. Such
thing had never been seen or heard Of be-
fore; in fact, it was the only specimen Of
the kind thus far discovered in the world.
The diamonds were little ones, but what
they signified was big. Illustrations of
the meteoric iron, in which the diamonds
were found, wore published In to-days
Press
The metecrite In question was one of
many found recently in Arizona, near the
CANYON Diablo 1t was supposed by the dis
coverers that they had hit upon an iron
mine of enormous value, but investigation
proved that the great chunks Of metal
picked up had been shot out OF the realms
of space. The place whence they were OBJ
tanned is known as the "Crater, because it
| looks like one; being circular hollow 100
| feet in depth three-quarters OF mile wide,
| and surrounded by a wall of rock so steep
! that the bottom is strewn with the skeletons
of animals which have got IN and been un-
| able to climb out again. Nevertheless, it is
not of volcanic origin, as IS proved with
certainty by the fact that there Is no lava,
obsidian-volcanic glass-or other volcanic
product in the neighborhood.
What was it, then, that made the crater9
Biologists say that it was formed by the
| impact of a single gigantic meteor, which
at some time in the past struck the earth
and buried itself out of sight, leaving hole,
| which has since become partly filled up, sur
rounded by wall Of rock that was forced
out Of place. Imagine what a big one it
must have been to leave q cavity three
fourths of mile in width where it hit this
planet The huge mass of iron OF which it
was composed is there yet, of course. Per-
haps it is not sunk too deep to render mining
for lts material Improbable. Fragments of
| il formed the masses that we're picked up by
the proSpectors above referred to.
That one which contained the diamonds,
however, has opened an absorbing subject
| for speculation. 1t proves that there are
diamonds in other worlds than ours, but
also it points to many other important con-
illusions. The diamonds of the famous KIM
herly mines, which at present produce al
most the entire worlds supply OF these
gems are all found at the bottoms of just
such craters as the one described in
Arizona. 1t is believed that these craters,
so called, were formed by the impact
| of great meteors, because there is no
other conceivable way in which they could
have been made, and for other reasons geo-
| logical. If SO, then it must be Inferred that
probably all the diamonds of the world
were brought to this terrestrial sphere by
meteorites. In other words. these precious
| jewels are not native to the earth, but have
been fetched hither with the dust of other
stars. That accounts for the manner, hith-
/ IN Iaar1ad M bIa in which
are scattered everywhere through drift OF
all sorts, having apparently no birthplace or
| definite relation to their minerals.
Some scientists 20 80 far as to assert that
| diamonds, like coal, which is 30 nearly of
the same chemical constitution could not
possibly come into existence without pre-
Yious vegetable growths to generate their
material. For this reason they infer that
the finding of them in the meteorite de-
monstrates that there must have been vege-
table life, at all events, in the place whence
| the meteorite came. If there
was vegetable life there it is a
fair presumption that thore was
animal life also. All this may be untrue.
but it affords the first glimpse that has ever
been obtained into the greatest problem that
| mankind has ever attempted to handle
namely, the question whether life exists in
other worlds than ours. From the philo =
| sophical point of view the fact cannot but
be taken for granted in a universe in which
the sun is merely an inferior star of the
fourth magnitude. Nevertheless, some alb.
solute evidence on the point would be ex-
| tremely satisfactory.
Meteorites ordinarily are nearly all iron,
with a small percentage Of nickel None of
them has ever been known to contain
particle of any precious metal. Neverthe-
less, many of them are worth many times
their weight in gold. because of some
popularity of structure or otherwise. Every
collector of minerals makes it matter OF
pride to have a specimen Of every known
kind of meteorite in his cabinet. If new
sort turns up and he has not piece he is
unhappy. 1t happens sometimes that one
weighing not more than a pound, of q
makeup that has not been seen before, will
sell in bits for a couple Of thousand dollars,
if its possessor knows how to dispose of it.
People are not less interested in other
worlds because they know nothing about
the next one.
AGENT have one lady 20 years of age who
| has $4,000 in her own name
| Customer gha UOOi lOOking1