The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-08-14
emile Flammarion on the
Origin Of Meteors.
eoaae OF THEM WEIGH TONS.
we're Thrown From the Earth bv
Fruptions Long Ago. but Some
Come From Other Planets.

thaf 0f the moon; IL leaves Denlnd &c dis
s;rctiy visible luminous trail. During, or
immediately after, its appearance an ex-
rJosion takes place. sometimes several ex-
riosiops in succession. which are heard at
s,rat distances Often, also, the explosion
4 accompanied by the division of the globe
into numerous fragments, more or less nu-
merous. which seem to be projected in diff
fsrent directions.
The phenomenon constitutes what is
nroperiy called fire-ball, or meteor. It
occurs during the day as often as at night;
only. in the former case, the light which it
OCCASIONS is greatly enfeebled by the pres
snce of the sun, and can only be seen when
ot extraordinary intensity.
Sometimes, on the earth's surface or en-
hsdded in it, solid bodies of a stony or
,.etallic nature are found, which seem to
have no relation to adjacent rocks. From
lime immemorial common people have
believed these bodies to have an extra
terrestrial origin, have thought them to
T. stones from the sky. More than 1000
years ago the Greeks held in veneration
he famous stone that fell from the sky
into the river Egos. Chroniclers of the
| middle ages preserved naive drawings of
these inexplicable bodies. Some natural
lists called them lightning stones or thun-
der stones, because they were thought to
be cast down by lightning. It is true that
under the same name were COMPOUNDED
iron pyrites discovered in chalky forma-
tions: but this old confusion did not pre-
vent the real existence of stony or ferru-
einous fragments which really fell from
the heavens.
II is quite interesting to notice that old
traditions, histories of antiquity and the
middle ages. and popular belief. all told in
vain of stones that fell from the sky, of
'erolites'' or stones of the air; learned
men would not believe them. Either
they denied the fact itself or they inter-
preted it quite differently, considering the
bodies that fell to the earth as having been
thrown up by volcanic eruptions, lifted by
water spouts, or else produced by certain
condensations of matter in the atmos-
phere. In 1890 the nlustrious Lavoisier,
and in 1900 the whole academy OF sciences
declared these facts to be absolutely
apocryphal. In 1894 Chladni, however,
proved the extra terrestrial origin of these
mysterious deposits.
The very general incredulity among
learned men yielded when Blot read be-
fore the academy of sciences his report
{ upon the memorable fall which occurred
at Laigle, Department oflOrne, April %,
1903. Indeed, careful inquiry made on the
spot easily proved the perfect truth of
the circumstances as reported by public
Iumor.
Numerous eye-witnesses affirmed that
several minutes after the appearance of a
large FIRE bail. moving from southeast to
northeast, which was seen from Alencon,
Caen and Falaise. terrible explosion. fol-
lowed BY reports like the noise of a can
non and the firing of musketry. came from
an isolated black cloud in the clear sky. A
large number of meteoric stones were then
precipitated to the earth, where they were
picked up, still smoking, over an area
measuring not less than three leagues in
length. The largest of these stones weigh
ed about ten Kilograms twenty-five
pounds).
Since that time numerous falls have
been no less automatically proved. Not
single year passes without several, nor
without one or more fragments being
picked up, sometimes broken upon rocks,
sometimes buried in the earth to q depth
Of several feet. The 23d of July, 1872.
beautiful summers day, one fell at Lance
near Blois, after an explosion that was
heard eighty kilometers away in every
direction. It fell fifteen meters from a
shepherd, stunning him, and buried itself
in q field at depth of a meter and a half.
Its weight was fortyrseven Kilograms ll03
pounds.) The following 3lst of April, one
fell near Rome, with such a noise that the
peasants thought the vault of heaven was
falling Its velocity was SO, 500 meters a
second when it reached the terrestrial at
mosphere. and the explosion broke it into
fragments. This ball fell at Sis o'clock in
the morning, from vertical height of 1S4
kilometers above Rome. As curious CO.
incidence it is noted that an hour and
half before an intensely luminous and mo-
tionless mass was seen over the sea in the
direction from which the fire-ball came.
May IA, 1864, the fire-ball which fell at
Orgueil Department Tarn-et-Geronne)
was seen at . height Of sixty-fvc kilo-
meters. and was noticed at Gisors depart
ment Eure), distance OF 500 kllometers.
January 81, 1879, one fell at Dun-le-Poelier
Department Indre) near farmer who
thought himself killed. The 9Th of April.
1856, at Chaudpoor, Hindostan, fall, ac-
companied by thunder and lightning,
frightened the Indians, who, seeing a
burning object fall from the skies, rushed
forward and found it buried in the earth
and still burning
On the eth of the following July small
meteorite fell into the prison of Vale,
Spain. and was picked up by the prison.
ers. November % 1866, meteorites con-
tanning diamonds fell in Russia at Novo-
urei, IN the government OF Penza. We
could easily multiply such examples. The
name @roiite, or meteorite. is usually
given TO such stones. but for genealogical
reasons the name uran oiite is a better one.
That these masses are not insignificant
may be seen from the following examples:
First-A ferruginous meteorite found in 1866
IN the midst OF u sandy plain in Chile, and
Weighing i04 Kilograms ts29 pounds, sent TO
fAris 10 the exposition OF lse1. now IN the Pafls
museum. Height, Is centimeters.
secoDd-A stony mcterorite which fell at Mur-
cie. spain. December -. 1888, weigh ia kiio-
efGms i25l pnunfsl, Also sent TO the exposition
OF ls6a, aud returned to the museum at Madrid.
lhird-A nleteorlte weighing las Kilograms
lS3 pounds, which ieti November Z, 49, at
Ensisheim, Upper Rhine. before the Emperor
Naximliiian. al the head of his army. 1t was
q first placed in church a relic. and is to-
asy In the museum OF mineralocy at Vienna.
fourth-Several thousand stones Tell juno 3.
Mo, at kniahyeria, Hungary, in the midst OF q
Nffihc thunder storm. the largest fragment.
no" al vienna by the side OF the one last NELL
uoned, weighs 2qS Kilograms OLA pouuds).
fhth-A block OF meteoric iron which IRON
ane immemorsal served as a bench at the door
oi The church in CaiIie (Matitime Alps. ln
weight Is 625 Kilograms q so pouuds). Ii was
anaiiy transp ported to Paris.
sxth-The London Museum of Mineralogy
possesses mass OF meieoric iron found in l7A
1iucuman. Argentine Republic, weighing t3o
Ai.ograms u, S97 poundsl.
seyenth-A mass of meteoric iron found by
satias IN Siberia in .si9. one OF the hrst recog-
nieed eeroiltos. liz weighed zoo Kilograms q I'D
pounds but the frag ments detached from il have
seaueed IL to 5l9 Kilograms n 242 pounds.l IL
sofms part of q collection at Paris.
Eghth-A meteorite OF $40 Kilograms Il go
pounds. which fell AT Santa Rosa. New Gre
nsda, in $50 Its volume nearly equals = tenth