The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1894-03-15
INTERE2TING METEORS.
4 Z!gzag Path Not Unusual Some Notable
xampies.


Z!gzag Path Not Unusual Some Notable
xampies.
1t is down in the log of the steam
| ship Yemassee that the meteor seen by
her officers OF December 20 last pur-
sued zigzag path in the latter part of
| its course. This statement may be
| challenged, but the officers of the Ye-
massee need not modify it on that ac-
count. They wouldn't, anyway, for no
skipper goes back on his log; but their
meteor is by no means the first that
has been seen making zigzag course,
as though beating against the wind. 1t
not infrequently happens that large
meteor in plunging through our at
mosphere, some times pursues a tortu-
Gus path, darting this way and that in
a most eccentric manner. Even in the
case of the meteor that Mr.. Lewis, of
Ansonia, caught photograph of last
year, part of the path appears as
crooked as rail fence. 1t is probable
that the zigzagging motion of a meteor
is due to Irregularities in the form of
the moving mass, causing variations in
the resistance that it encounters from
the atmosphere.
The brilliancy ascribed to the meteor
by the officers of the Yemassee is by
no means incredible or unprecedented
| Many meteors have been seen that
shed an illumination broader than
that of the full moon. On September
30, 1876, about o'clock in the evening,
a meteor passed over England, produc-
ing an illumination equal to that of
monday, so that, as the celebrated DIR.
| Wallis said in his report to the Royal
society on this phenomenon, 1.-The
smallest pin or straw might be seen
lying on the ground" On the night
of March 81, 1876, a meteor passed over
Italy and was carefully observed by
the mathematician Montanari 1t ap-
peared larger than the moon. Sir Hans
Sloane, vice president of the Royal
society, walking in the streets of Lon
don at 6:15 o'clock in the evening, on
March 10, 1718, was startled by sud-
den, great light in the sky, which
proved to be a meteor. It's brightness
seemed nearly to equal that of the sun.
In fact, it was so brilliant that he was
several times obliged to turn his eyes
from it. 1t left sparkling track
that remained visible for about one
minute. The great meteor that was
seen passing over Long Island Sound
and Connecticut about 1929 p. m. on
May 90 1862 appeared equal in dame
ter to the full moon, and study of it's
path indicated that it probably fell
into the ocean not far from the coast,
northeast of Boston.
The trains left in the air by large
meteors also frequently last for a con-
siderable time. A meteor seen in India
on September 23, 1878, left train that
was visible for three-quarters of an
hour We have seen the trains OF
small meteors remain half a minute
or longer after the disappearance OF
the meteors, undulating with a snake
like motion as they foated in the cur
rents of the atmosphere.
The story of the gradual recognition
of the fact that me teoric bodies, iron
and stone actually fall out of the sky
upon the earth is one of the most curl
Gus in the history of science. Although
such falls had been noticed in the ear.
liest times; although every reader OF
ancient literature knew the story OF
the stone which fell at Aegospotamos,
the re-discovery of which was one oi
the dreams of Alexander Won Hum.
boldt, and of the other stone that fell
at the feet of the poet Pindar, to pro
cure the posses sion of which as sort
of national mascot for Rome Publius
, Scipio Nasica was sent as a special am
bassador to the king of Pergamos, YET
at the opening of the nineteenth cen
tury even scientific men doubted
, whether anything ever really fell ou
of the sky from beyond the clouds anC
the limits of the air. The question wa!
, finally settled by the fall of showers o
stones at Sienna, Italy, on June 16
, 1904, and at L'Aigle, in France Apri
26, 1903. Blot the astronomer, inves
, tigated the 1ast-named occurrence, ant
his report ended all doubts.
, In our day the subject has assumed
, fresh and keen interest on account o
, the curious discoveries made in th'
meteorites themselves. They bring t.
US out of the mysterious depths o
| space, not only iron, whose condition
indicates that it has had an extraordin
{ ary history, and nickel, and magneti
: pyrites, and cobalt, and various othe
, minerals, such as olivine and troilite
+ but that Proteus of the mineral world
, carbon, occasionally in the form, toe
of diamonds.
So diamonds are known beyond tn
earth N. Y. Sun.
( sledge Dogs in Northwestern Canada.
Six or eight dogs are used on eac
! sledge They are fed only once i