The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1897-11-11
METEoRs AND METEoRITEs.
stone and Iron Visitors From Intcrstel-
lar Space.

stone and Iron Visitors From Intcrstel-
lar Space.
The return of Perry from Greenland
with an enormous mass of iron which
has been thought to be q meteorite re-
viver a number of questions as to the
origin, composition and size of that
! class Of objects. In a few instances
these "skystones," as they have some
times been called, have been worshiped
or at least regarded with peculiar rever-
ence. The sacred Kaaba stone at Nee
! ca is believed to be of meteorite origin.
| And for four centuries there has hung
suspended in little Christian church
at Ennisheim, Alsace, a bit of rock
that was actually seen to fall from the
heavens. In fact, this is the earliest in
cident OF the kind of which there is a
definite record. although the phenome-
non has been referred to by many an
ciet writers more or less vaguely. BY
far the largest umber of specimens
that have been found. however. are OF
! unknown age. No one has witnessed
their descent. Indeed. their real char
acter has in some instances log remai-
ed unsuspected. There was preserved
/ in the town house of Elbogen Bohemia,
! for several centuries a stone which was
| rot IeCogn Zcd as a mete0rite until 1911.
| The "signet iron" Of Tucson. Arizona,
and another chuck of metal found near
Etaunton. Va were used as anvils and
one of them rendered service in a stone
fence and also in a house wall before
| the collectors got hold of them.
Astronomers distinguish between
shooting stars" or meteors, and me-
teorites. The former which are by far
the most numerous. are due to the pas
sage through our atmosphere OF stones
which rarely weigh more than few
grains, and which are burned up during
! the short period of their visibility.
The velocity with which they move,
somewhere from ten to fifteen miles
second. develops enough friction as
soon as they enter the earthh's aerial
envelope to render them incandescent.
Lord Kelvin says that il is as II they
were immersed in a blowpipe flame at
a temperature of several thousand de-
grees Fahrenheit. Professor Newton
of Yale once estimated that the num-
her of these tiny objects that come into
the atmosphere of the entire globe Is
from 10000 900 to 100000 daily!
But those masses which are large
enough to survive this frey ordeal are.
relatively speaking, exceedingly rare.
Perharv not more than dozen are
seen in the course of year, and 1t is
doubtful il any more than a very few
hundred fall without witnesses in that
period of time. These may weigh from
a few ounces to several tons. The
flight Of the large ones is often attend
ed by a rumbling or roaring sound.
and also by explosions. The unequal
heating Of any mineral tends to crack 1t
into pieces. 1t is only for few seconds
that the meteorite is subjected to
high temperature. and only the surface
is acted unon. This may be made to
glow brilliantly. and the thin, varnish-
like coating found on these visitors
from outer space shows that little OF
the material has actually been fused.
The strange pits, or "thumbmarks,"
which are so characteristic OF the eX-
terror if aerolites, are usually account
ed for by the combustion of portions
of the mass, and thus accord additional
evidence of the heat endured. Yet
specimens have been picked up immedi-
ately after falling and found to have re-
tanned so much of their original cold
! the temperature of interstellar space
that they froze the fingers. 1t is not
! likely that the momentary heat pene-
trates far from the surface of these
strange objects.
Meteorites are classified according to
their composition. Nineteen out of
every twenty are stony; in very small
proportion of them metal preponder-
ates. Iron Is the principal metallic
constituent. A small proportion of
nickel is mixed with it usually. and
traces of copper. tin, lead and several
of what are called the "rarer" metals
have also been found. AT least thirty
four of the terrestrial elements have
been discovered in these bodies, but no
element which could not be identified.
Sometimes these are combined as salts
of sodium, calcium and potassium,
which can be sacked out by immersing
the specime in water, but the greater
part of the stony material is insoluble.
Stone being more brittle than iron. the
stony meteoriteS are more liable to
break up into small pieces than those
which are metallic. Il sometimes hap
pens, though, that the iron is distrib-
uted uneveniy, though in about equal
proportions in an aerolite. The mass
may burst into hundretd or thous-
and fragments just before landing.
Some of these will be almost pure iron
and others merely stone. The iron is
usually ductile, even though alloyed,
but there is at least one specimen
known that behaved like tempered
steal In 1891, while with Peary Pro-
fessor Angelo Heilprin Of Philadelphia
picked up near Godheaven a chunck of
mineral weighing 267 pounds, which
he took to be a meteorite. 1t was so
hard that it would scratch soft iron.
Gold has not yet been detected in me-
teoric matter but a small diamond was
found in one of the pieces of the Can
yOu Diablo fall.