St. Paul daily globe., 1896-04-08
Interest In the Big Cycle ShDw at the Mi

men, report having seen an aerOlitc,
followed by a luminous train, at the
hour of the phenomenon over Madrid.
This aerolite fell into the sea. The
same phenomenon was observed at the
Port of Valence. 1t would thus ap-
pear that the fragments of the aerolite
were scattered over the Spanish coast
| from north to south.
NJ. StaniSlas Meunier, professor at
the Paris Natural History museum,
who has made special study of aero
lites, has been interviewed on the re-
cent remarkable phenomenon at Mad
rid. The scientist explained that up TO
the present, very incomplete infCrrla-
ton had been received in regard to
the Madrid occurrence, but, from what
ne could gather, it was one presenting
extremely unusual characteristics. Tie
description that had reached them GER
tainly resembled that of a shooting
star, and the two phenomena had an
incontestible analogy. In 1922 the aero
lite of Anglers was taken by the PCit-
lers people for shooting star
However, to think that they were
the same would be to make a great err
ror. The fall of an aerolite was always
case of shooting stars, there was no
noise whatever. On the occasion of the
Madrid phenomenon the noise could be
heard as far as Saragossa, which is
more than 500 miles away. In 1864 the
noise Of the fall of an aerolite at Or
gueil, in the department of Tarn-et-
Garonne, was heard in Paris The
cause of the fall of aerolites, said M.
Meunier, was the progressive loss of
initial heat. By slow degrees worlds
grew colder, contracted, and finally
burst asunder. Seas would disappear
under the rays of the sun, the atmos-
phere would disappear, and the earth
itself would some day fall to pieces.
Some day, in fact, the earth, itself
would provide aerolites
According to the opinion of NJ. Faye.
the well-known astronomer, never has
there been SO remarkable d phenome-
non as this Madrid aerolite since such
phenomena were studied on scientific
basis
Interviewed by the Gaulois. the SCI
enlist explained that it was believed
that these aerolites were detached
fragments Of neighboring planets.
Upon reaching the atmosphere Of the
earth the friction became so great
owing to the rate at which they were
travelling that they were very often
completely burned up before striking
the ground.
Their own velocity said M. Faye,
is from twentyfour to twenty-seven
miles a second. The velocity of the
earth around the sun is about eighteen
miles a second. So that one of these
objects meeting it would penetrate our
atmosphere at the rate of thirty-seven
to forty-two miles per second.
Under this term aerolite' many peo-
pie confound aerolites and shooting
stars. But they have neither the
same composition nor the same origin.
According to the hypothesis generally
accepted, shooting stars are the cos
mic matter abandoned by certain COM
cts, and which fall upon the earth in
the form of fine powder.
"The characteristics Of the Madrid
phenomenon are it's intensity and espe-
cially it's duration, for generally aero
lites, after passing rapidly through the
air, are shattered and disappear, Ieav-
ing luminous train, which instantly
vanishes. In the present cases the
than three hours
"Laplace." concluded NJ. Faye, at
tributed aerolites to the lunar volcanic
eruptions, because of the relative near
ness Of our satellite and the vastness
Of the volcanoes of the moon. But
the observations made since his day
have shown that these volcanoes are
extinct and therefore the hypothesis
is untenable."
The Eclair says that about two
months ago an aerolite passed over
Paris from the east to the west. For
tunately it disappeared without any
explosion being heard M. Tisserand,
director of the Paris observatory, is
at present collecting facts on this phe-
| nomenOn
Many accidents have resulted from
the fall of these bodies. Records at
| the Paris observatory show that at
the end of the eighteenth century an
aerolite killed two sailors on board a
| Dutch vessel while out at sea. About
| the same time a monk was killed in
| the streets of Milan. On Jan. 16, 1925,
killed man and seriously injured his
| at Oriang, in British India, an aerolite
wife