The Lake Charles echo., 1893-09-08
LAKE CHARLES Ia, FRIDAY, sEPrEnfBER 5, 1898
MIsslLEs FRoM - HEAvENs.
Billions Of Them Fall, but Comparatively
- Few Rehnh thh Earth.


Few Reach the Earth.
''It is a mistake to suppose that mete-
orites burst in the proper sense Of the
word" said a scientist to writer. 'But
1t often happens that they are broken to
pieces on striking the atmosphere Of the
earth. This may seem surprising, but,
let me call your attention tnan analogy.
Strike the surface OF water with your
fist, and, though fluid, the resistance 1t
opposes to the blow seems almost as
strong as If it were solid, Now, the me-
teorite is moving at a tremendous rate OF
speed. If small, it is set on fire in an in
slant by the friction of the air, and after
glowing for q moment brightly ID con-
sumed. 4
"On any night in simmer you will
see shooting stars now and then. They
are meteorites, which on coming into
contact with the earth's atmosphere are
set afire. This il not surprising, inas-
much as they approach the planet on
which we live at a speed which often at
tains Al miles a second, by causing the
destruction of meteoritea the atmosphere
serves as proteotioA for people on the
globe, who would otherwise be pelted
by such missiles to a dangerous extent,
It Is estimated that not less than 10000
900 of them, big enough to be visible to
the naked eye, strike the earth every "a
hours.
by contact with this planet the me-
teorites are raised to a temperature which
reaches from 0, 100000 to 1900, 900 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 greatest number of auCn bodies can
be seen just before daybrealt, because by
that time we are on the front side of the
globe as 1t moves through space, The
elevation at which most of them are Wis
ible has been found to be between 45 and
80 miles, very few being seen at greater
height than 100 miles.
'It Ia believed by most astronomers
that some very large meteors have en-
tered our atmosphere and have passed
out into space again, their great mo-
mentum being sufficient to take them
away from the earths attraction. What
these flying bodies are is a question that
has been much disputed, but it is con,
sidered most likely that they are the
debris of broken up comets. In one re-
| cent instance the correctness of this the
ory has found striking proof. That wa
| the case of the comet of BielR, 1t wa
discovered in 1925 and was again oh
served in 1889, 1916 and 1864 In l845 i
had split into two parts, and in 1873 i
failed to appear when and where /
| should have done. Evidently 1T had beer
smashed up, and prediction was mad'
| that there would be a great meteoriC
shower composed of the remains of thu
lost comet. This prediction was fulfilled
Certain groups of meteors move il
elliptical orbits around the sun. OCca
sionally the earth passes through thei
clusters, producing what are known al
meteoric showers. Such showers occut
annually from the 9th to the 18th of Al
| gust and there is a similar display il
November once every 80 years. TIL
stream of the August mateOrs is esti
mated to be from 5000, 900 to 10000, 00
miles thick. The earth, though travel
ing with the velocity of 1000, 900 miles
day, is immersed in it for several days,
"The fall of meteorites to the earth !
sometimes accompanied by q great dis
play of light, occasionally illuminating
an area of many Thousand SQUARE miles
When such an event occurs at night, an
with loud detonations, 80 great in som
instances as to shake houses and fright
en- men and animals, the explosions ar
caused by the breaking up of the me
teor. Ordinarily you will find that sue
meteoric bodies are coated on the Qut
side with a black substance, which
the effect merely of fusion Of the supel
fetal material by great heat. A piece G
Biela's comet was actually picked up !
Mexico in 1879 at the time Of the Shove
Of its remains. Naturally it is consit
cred interes ting.
''Such great interest is taken In met
orites that all of those collected hay
been carefully catalogued. They o.
mostly composed Of iron, with usually
percentage of nickel and cobalt an
sometimes copper and tin. 1t is custom
airy to saw them into slices, which Is
laborious process, for sale or for O.
change among museums. Sometiml
the slices are prettily polished, OF Che CT
surfaces are etched with acid 80 as to Q,
pose the crystalline structure. Th
structure is in no two such bodies exac
4 ly the same, and the differences a
Thought well worth studying, Attemp
have been made to counterfeit meten
ties because they are SO valuable, b
without success. Nv Washington Star.