Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1892-01-16
Gems Found in An Arizona MeteOfite
Form An Absorbing Subject
for Speculation.
There Must Have Been a Vegetable
Lite Where This Particular Ne
teOrite Came From.
An Interesting Story by Prof. Henry
A. Ward of An Extraordinary
Binds Nest.

ment of Science took to Washington for
exhibition to their fellows, the most extra
ordinary was meteorite with dia-
nonds in it. Such thing had never
been seen or heard of before; in fact, it
was the only specimen OF the kind thus
far discoyele ed in the world The dia.
monds were little ones, but what they sig
nifed was big. The meteorite In question
was one of many found recently in Ari-
IONA, near the Canon Diablo. ID was sup.
posed by the discovereTs 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 obtained is known as the
'Crater," because it looks like one, being
a circular hollow, 100 feet in depth, three
quarters of mile wide and surrounded
with a wall of rock so steep that the bot
tom is strewn with the skeletons Of ami
mails which have got in and and been I'M
able to climb out again, Nevertheless, it
is not of volcanic origin. as is proved with
by the fact that there is no lava,
obsidian-volcanic glass--or other volcan-
ic product In the neighborhood What
was it, then, that made the crater? Geolo-
gists 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,
surrounded by a wall Of rock that was
forced ont of place. Imagine what big
one ii must have been to leave a cavity
three fourths of mile in width where it
hit this planet. The huge mass of iron of
which it was composed is there vet, of
course. Perhaps it is not sunk too deep
to render mining for its material unproft-
able Fragments of it formed the masses
that were picked up by the prospectors
above referred to.
That one which contained the tlia-
monds, however, has opened an absorb,
ing subject for speculation 1t proves
that there are diamonds in other worlds
than ours; but also itpoints to many other
conclusions. The diamonds of
the famous Kimberly mines, which at
present produce almost the entire world S
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 10y
the impact of great meteors, because there
is no other conceivable way in which they
could have been made, and for other rea-
sons geological. If so, then it must be in
ferred that probably all the diamonds of
the world were brought to this terrestrial
sphere 10y the meteorites. In other words,
these precious jewels are not native 70 the
earth, but have been fetched bither with
The dust of other stars. That accounts for
the manner, hitherto deemed unaccount.
able, in which they are scattered every
where through drifts of all sorts, having
no birthplace or definite re
ation to other minerals.
Some scientists 20 so far as to assert
that diamonds, like coal, which is so near
y of the same chemical constitution,
could not possibly come into existence
without previous vegetable grOwths to
generate their material For this reason
they infer that the finding of the gems in
the meteorte demonstrates that there
must have been vegetable life, at all events,
in the place whence the mete0rite came.
If there was vegetable life there, it is
fir presumption that there was animal
lie also. All ihi, may be untrue, but 1t
'tords the INST guess glimpse that has
ever been obi med into the greatest prob
em that mankind has ever attempted to
the question whether life
exists IN other worlds than ours. From
the philosophical point Of view, the fact
cannot be taken for granted in universe
IN which the sun Is merely an inferior star
IF the fourth magnitude Nevertheless.
some absolute evidence on the point would
be extremely satisfactory.
NeteOrItes ordinarily are nearly all iron.
with small. percentage of nickel. None
Of them have ever cen known to contain
particle Of any precious metal Neverthe-
less, many OF them are worth many times
their weights in gold, because Of some
oecullarlty of structure or otherwise /
Every collector Of minerals makes it a |
matter of pride to have a specimen of |
every known kind of meteorite in his cab |
met. 1t new sort turns up and be has |
not piece, he is unhappy. 1t happens
sometimes that one weighing not more
than a pound, Of a makeup that has not
been seen before. will sell in bits for a |
thousand dollars, if It's possessor knows
how 10 dispose Of it, People are not less
in other worlds because they !
SNOW nothing about the next one.
The most interesting man among the !
scientists who have been visiting Wash. !
ngton is Prof Henry A. Ward. the great
natural science collector Of Rochester, Y |
\. He has spent his life in travelling all |
over the world for the purpose Of gather. |
ing material for museums The advent |
lres he has met with while in pursuit of |
in one far corner of the earth |
Or another would iII many delightful |
books. In COM ersaion the other day. be |
referred to an expedition be once made in
search Of an extraordinary Australian
Ord which has a communal nest. whole |
deck uniting their efforts in its construc- |
ton, and sharing its conyeniences for the
purpose of laying their eggs.
1T was IN the neighborhood of Fort |
Darwin, on Torres Straits, said the pro-
lessor. Il had some native black fellows
wi h me. and a lot Of biscuits to pay them |
with. Biscuits 90 with them for wages as
well as money, because they care for |
nothing in life but eating. Ii YOU give
them coins they carry them in their ears |
and they are more apt than not to wear no |
clothes at all. save band around their
left arm. TO bold q tobacco nine that s