The Winslow mail., 1898-11-26
SHOOTING STARSLAND
Many Tons of Them Reach the
Earth Every Day.
Such Is the Theory of an Astronom-
teal AuthOrity-Irterc Par
ticuIars CT Recent
Lecture,

h0lA 4NOOCtI OI1l. lI1ESIOCA' VI tklC
Royal Astr 1rcmical society, delivered
in the Birkl eek institute recently the
first of the lectures arranged for the
present season. His subject was The
Lances Of Heaven" telling about the
great showers of shooting stars that
may be expected in November, 1893. or
1899. For q period of thousand years
great shower of stars had recurred
every 23 years with more or less repu-
larity. The first that took place in this
country was cn November 13. 1888. An
ordinary shoe ting star even though it
traced out brilliant streak across the
star-spangied vaults, was by no means
a large object. \ meteor was not so
big as the moon. The shooting star
was less than a mountain or a hill;
it was even smaller than cottage; not
often were the shooting stars so heavy
as a turnip. or even as potato; and
many a bright shooting star was no
larger than an ordinary bean; they
were frequently not 50 large as pea.
Among the innuln crable myriRds of
shooting stars many were. in truth,
neither larger nor heavier than the
grains Of =Hnd on the seashore. For
thousands ol years he believed for
tens or hund-e eds Of thousands of years
the little jneteor had been hurrying
through space with that extraordinary
speed which utterly transcribed any
velocity that could be produced on
earth. The Garth was bonibarded by
shooting stars, day and night, year in
and year out hy hundreds of thousands
of them.wh:ch, though small, possessed
extraordinary power for doing mis-
chief. If the meteors were not arrested
in their frerzied light and rendered
perfectly harmless he could not tell
what the result would be. They were
often eXactly in the line of fire of the
great November shower, ard the very
fury with which these lances of heaven
tried to get Il us was the source of cur
salvation I he speed Of their flight
was SO preposterous that the shooting
star became transformed into a streal.
of harmless and beautiful vapor. On
the most moderate computation, scores
of tons of meteoTic matter were added
CcbNh NiS1f ~ lAiS DAC'lOuo 1iiTtSS VI TIC
earth. Since the queen came to the
throne the earth had acquired not less
than half a rnilliol tons of additional
matter, which had been gathering from
the depths OF space. No one could tell
where this matter was not to be found.
On lofty Alpine SUBMITS. amid the eter-
nal SHOWS, whose putty had never been
/ y
particles were found, bearing evidence
Of having ,een fused by intense heat.
Such particles were the poor residues
of glorious shooting stars which had
originated in comets Amid the ooze
that came up from the bottom of the
Atlantic were maliy little particles
which had merely exchanged their po-
sition from the depths of space to the
depths Of ocean. For they were the
spoils Of the shooting stars which had
dropped into the sea. The notes which
foated SO beautifully in the sunbeam
frequently comprised heavenly contri-
buttons. Tho furroWs turned over by
the plow of the hueloandman contained
no insignificant proportion of materials
Of geological time had been gathered in
from the tails of mighty comets. Grains
Of corn owed something to the gentle
rain of meteoric matter, as well as to
the gentle rains of more familiar de-
scription. The loaf as it came to the
table contai:ed within it particles
which had voyaged for uncou3ted thou
sands Of centuries Of time through IL
limitable millions OF space. Thus to
provide the actual material CT our
bodily frame the remotest realms of
space had been laid under contri button.
The life CT everyone present was at
that moment in intimate association
with particles that had been brought
thither by shooting stars. These Won
ders Of the shooting stars did but lead
them to think of those fine words of
Ruskin: "It is but the outer hem of
Gods great mantle our poor stars do
gem. London Standard.