The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-08-14

reach it with the velocity of comets and
shooting stars. with the velocity caused by
solar attraction added 10 their own We
iocity-that is, not simply with the circu-
lar velocity Of the earth's annual revolu-
tion about the sun (29, 5Ogmeters second }.
but with an elliptica velocity having .
maximum limit OF Al, 700 .meters.
meteorite coming toward the earth
from the direction opposite to our revolu-
ton, may then, by this very fact, itself
nave velocity Of Al, 700 meters and en-
counter the earth moving with velocity
OF 1900 meters, giving maximum total of
u,oU meters for the velocity of meteror-
lite arriving in our atmosphere. (The We
iocity of the earth's daily rotation may be
added or subtracted according to its direc-
tion.) These numbers agree perfectly with
observed meteoric velocities.
Thus, every stone throgn from q terres.
trial volcano with sufficient initial force.
comprised between 5000 and II 900 meters
(the resistance of air being subtracted)
would describe a closed curve, an ex-
tremely elongated ellipse and would thus
become an asterOid Ill Che solar system,
traversing the terrestrial orbit at each
revolution.
Is such force admissible? What is the
power OF existing voicanoss2 During the
eruption of Vesuvius in 1s22 an enormous
mass of lava weighing several thousand
kilograms was thrown into the garden of
Prince Ottajana, distance of nearly five
kllometers. The force necessary to raise
the mass and throw it so Ear was evidently
much greater than that of our largest can
non. which throw certaip projectiles with
an initial velocity of 100 meters, The
26, 1888. threw cloads Of dust
seventy kilometers high. which troubled
the whole terrestrial atmosphere and
extended to the antipodes! The elements
in activity during volcanic eruptions being
given, the force required Ito produce the
effects We are discussing would be given in
harmony with the conditions at the time
OF our planets ancient convulsions.
Consequently, since we ind in the chem
ical constitution of the failing stones frag-
ments OF the component minerals of our
globe, 1t is possible. evesi probable, that
these stones came originally from the
earth, that they were thrown into space in
times gone by, that being freed from the
earth s attraction, they grayitated about the
sun, following very elongated ellipses, and
that the earth encounters chem and seizes
them again, as they inevitably return
toward the terrestrial orbat whence they
started. The movement of the solar sys-
tenn through space does not prevent these
stones from returning to rs. in virtue Of
the well known principle Of the independ-
ence of simultaneous movements.
Nature herself seems to- have desired to
put us upon the track Of this simple ex-
PLANTATION by quite recent proof. Blocks
OF native iron absolutely identical with
meteorites have been found on the surface
of the earth. During the year 1870, Pro-
fessor Nordenskjold discovered on the
fifteen blocks of iron, the largest of which,
weighing 10000 Kilograms, surpasses the
largest of the meteoric masses already
mentioned. They were found scattered
over an area of not more than fifty meters.
They were supposed to have fallen from
the sky, and that opinion was presented
and adopted by the French Academy of
Sciences. But these blocks were not
meteors at all. They have been identified
as coming from terrestrial stratum and
as associated with the eruDtions of basalt
peculiar to Greenland. On the other hand,
the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism
unite with geology in leading us to admit
that native iron exists at the base Of the
whole earth's crust. several kilometers be-
meath the inhabited surface.
To complete the statement, let US now
add that, although We consider the ter
restrial origin of meteors really probable,
we do not, for that reason. refuse to ad-
init that a certain number of these stones,
those for example which are not entirely
identical with terrestrial materials, may
come from some other source. If our
planet has produced such projectiles, it is
not an exception in the universe, and the
other celestial bodies may have done the
same. Thus the sun itself appears to be
almost constantly surrounded by formida-
BILE eruptions of metallic gases, which are
thrown ten. twenty, thirty, fifty. and
thousand leagues from its surface.
September Z, 1871, the American astron-
omer, Young, measured an explosion
which in ten minutes, with an ascending
velocity of $4,000 meters Sec
ond, rose to a height of 100000
kilometers. At Rome. secchi one day
measured velocity of 10000 meters,
100000 and even of S0O,0Os meters, and it
has been estimated that a body shot forth
from the sun 1.-THE resistance of the solar
atmosphere being subtracted) with an
initial velocity of from $4,000 meters to
Cos 900 meters would not return to the sun,
but would circulate in the solar system
like periodic comet, be exposed to en-
planet encountered, fire ball or me-
teorire.
A body shot forth from the moon, with
the maximum velocity Of 2. 1850 meters. or
even the minimum velocity of 1,66S meters,
would not return to that planet, and might
either fall upon the earth, If its direction
permitted, or revolve about it like satel-
us from the moon. if We admit it possessed
volcanoes of sufficient l.ower. LapIace
and Berzelius adopted this origin as gen.
eral rule.
Similar projectiles might also come
from the small planets, Mars, Jupiter,
Uranus. Neptune and even from the other
stars; but all these causes combined, and,
as far as encounter with our planet is con-
cerned, is very slight probability, while
the terrestrial origin brings battalions of
them back towards the route annually
traversed by our planet about the sun.
The result of this calculation and the
identity of meteorites and terrestrial rocks
of volcanic origin unite il rendering adj
missible. and probable, the theory of the
terrestrial origin of the rocks that fall
from the sky. Moreover, the theory is
not as new as it appears to- be. 1t is per-
haps the most ancient OF AL explanations
of Cerolites since the famous stone of
Agospotamos fell into the river
of that name in Tt,race, during
the year 465 B. J.. But the
ancients took no note of che structure Of
these minerals, or OF the. volcanic force
necessary to throw them int space (for q
a long time they even believed in atmOs-
pheric and fulgurant concsetions).
Briefly, the following aypotheses are
presented to explain the orr gin of celestial
stones, or authentic meteorites, which
have been seen to fall with formidable
velocity from atmosphere heights, have
been picked up, analysed and preserved !:
First-Luuar volcanoes. Tie observed great
speed of meteori,es. their density the directions
OF their arrival, the curves magic by the projec
tiles, ana the probable present condition of
lunar volcanoes, all unite q show that this
origin could only be rare , ana shcepsion ;ao,
out space which the earth epcounters on its
passage. The annual number of meieoric show