Arizona silver belt., 1893-12-23
MISSILES ERoM r1g HEAVENS.
Billions of Them Fall, but Comparatively
 InNA Rench the ERrih.


 Few Reach the Earth.
 'It is mistake to suppose that mete- orites burst in the proper sense of the word, said a scientist to writer. But it often happens that they are broken to pieces on striking the atmosphere of the earth This may seem surprising, but lot me call your attention to an analogy. Strike the surface of water with your fist, and, though fluid, the resistance it opposes to tho blow seems almost as strong as # it were solid. Now, the me teonte is moving nt a tremendous rate of speed. If smaH, it is set on fire in an in- staut by the friction of the air, and after glowing for moment brightly is con stunned
 "0u any night in summer you will see shooting stars now and then. They are neteorites, which on coming into contact with the earth's atmosphere are set ahre. This is not surprising. inas- much as they approach the planet on which we live at a speed which often at taius 4l miles a second. By causing the destruction of meteorites the atmosphere serves us a protection for people on the globe who would otherwise be pelted by suck missiles to dangerous extent It is estimated that not less than 10, ,000,. 0GO of them his enough to be visible to the naked eye, strike the earth every 2i hours,
 By contact with this planet the me, teoritos are raised toatemperaturew which reaches from 8,G00,00 to 4.000 .000 de- grees- high enough to consume the hard est known substance almost instantly. Thus only those of large size reach the earth before being entirely burned up The greateat number of snch bodies can be seen just before daybreak, because by that tlne we are on the front side of the globe as it moves through space. The elevation at which most of them are wis ible has been found to be between 45 and 50 miles, ycry few being seen at 8 greater height than lO0 miles.
 Ut is believed by most astronomers that some very large meteors have CT. tered our atmosphere and have passed out into space again their great no meutum beng sufficient to take them away from the earth's attraction. What these flying bodies gre is question that has been much disputed, but t is con 5i.cged most likely that they are thc debris of broken Up comets. h one re- cent instance the correctness of thts tse. ory has found striking proof. Thly as the case of the comet of Biela. l. was discovered in 1926 and was az in ob- served in is32, l5i5 and lS52. fn i5l5 1t had split into two parts, and in lSi2 t failed to appear Wnen and wh src t should hHo done. Evidently it had lecn smashed ap, all prediction was n.sle that tGeye would bo Q great meteoric shower coEpo-e3 Of the remains sf tiIe lest comet, This prediction was ful6Ecd
 '.CgEtain groups of mete0g move in elHplieaI oghita around the sun. OCca. siouaGy the earth passes through th ir clusters, producing what are known as meteoric showers. Such showers oe eur annually from t5e 9th 10 the i2th Of Ad. gust. and there is q similar display ir November once every 53 years The stream of the August meteers is csu mated to be frou 5,000.000 to 10. .0o0. .00J mics thick The earth, though travel. Ing with the velocity Of 2,000, ,0o0 miles q dag is immersed iu ii for several days.
 "lhe fall of n,etcorjtcs to the earth is sometimes acGcnlpanied by a great dis. play Of light, occasionally Illuminating an rs.a ci many thonsand square miles Y, suu such an event occurs at night. and wigh loud dctonauons, SO great in some instances ss fo shake houses and fright- en men and animals, the explosions are caused by the breaking up of thc me taor Ordinarily you will find that such me.e0ria bodies arc coated oa the out- pidc with S black substance, which * the effect merely of fusion of the sug ger- Enal maierm by great heat. A pieceot Liela's comet was actually picked un in Mexico ia 1872 at tbe time of the sh5wa CT is remains. Naturally it is consid- cred ia:cres ing.
 "suah great interest is taken iu muto oriies that oil of those collected laye been carefully catalogued They are mostly composed of iron, with usually a percentage of nickel and cobalt and sometimes copper and tin. t is custom aly to faw them into slices, which is < labmious process, for sale or for cx- change among museums Sometimes tho slices are prettly polished, or the cut sutfaces are etched with acid so as to ex- pose the crystalline structure. This structure is in no two such bodies exact. ly the auIe and the differences arc thought well worth studying. Attempts have been made to counterfeit meteor itcs because they are 50 valuable, but without succpss ''---y " ashiurtep Stsr