The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-11-02
BILLIONS OF METEoRs.
They VIII be Rushing Past the Earth
for Three Years.

New York, Oct. 22.-Two great
meteor shows in single month, and
only two weeks apart, constitute q
rare event in astl onomical sannels.
Such an event is due to occur in
November.
One of tho expected showers will
result from the frs. on-rush of the
advancing columns of the great Leonid
meteors which envelop the earth in
fiery spectacles once in every thirty
three and quarter years. The main
mass of these meteors is due in No.
vember, 1899, but, since their array
extends over lenth Of at least 2,00O,-
100000 miles, they require not less
than three years to pass the place
where their orbit intersects that of
| the earth.
Accordingly, astronomers are conf
dent that their leading files will be
streaming in hundreds of thousands
across the point Of intersection when
our globe arrives there, about Novem-
Der 13, this year. The tocsin of
sci nee has been sounded, star znaps
an directions to observers have been
scattered broadcast, the latest i'm
provements in photography have been
enlisted in the service. and the as
Economical world is on the qui vive
for the expected encounter.
The other great shower occurs on
tho night of November 29, and will be
caused by the meeting of the. earth
with the meteors known as the andre
medes, or Bielids, which are closely
related to the famous missing comet
of Biela, if they are not, in fact. scat
tered debris of that comet itself.
These meteors were last seen in a
great shower in 1885, when huge
ball Of blazing iron dropped out of the
sky while it was filled with their daz-
zling grains, and buried Itself in the
earth near Mazapil, in Mexico. That
meteor, or piece Of smashed comet,
is now in a mineralogical museum in
Europe.
Only the transparent air protects US
against death from meteors. A
meteor's velocity at the instant it
strikes the atmosphere is from SO, 900
to ESQ, 1000 feet per second. Occasion
ally the shield Of the atmosphere
proves insufficient, and the earth s
armor is penetrated by a meteor Of
more than ordinary size and density.
This is what happened at Mazapil
during the shower of the Andromedes
in 1885, and it may happen again next
month.
The Mazapil meteor, composed
mostly Of iron, buried itself two or
three feet IN the hard soil, and was
dug out, yet glowing with heat, by
persons who had seen it fall. If
similar meteor should fall in New
York City, notwithstanding the loss
Of velocity it would suffer in passing
through hundred miles or 80 of air,
it would penetrate the stoutest roof or
wall, and if as large as some others
that have been known to reach the
earth, 1T would gdemolish 2O-story
building more effectively than whole
broadside of 13.inch shells could do
it.
The adventures of the two great
troops of mcteors which are now rush
ing rapidly toward the earth have been
varied and startling, and the future
may hSve still more remarkable things
in store for them ant> for us. The
Leonids (thus called because they ap-
pear TO radiate fyom the constellation
Leo) hold, like the the Andromedes,
close relatinna vith cnmet @h;ch ;s
travelling in the same track. Every
time they meet the earth they suffer
violent pertubations.
Besides the millions which are con-
sumed with fire in the air, other mil
lions are whirled into new paths and
drawn out into streams like eddying
leaves in storm.
In 1888 particularly dense mass
encountered the globe 1and the result
was spectacle that carried terror
broadcast over the world, the greatest
excitement being produced on the
plaptations of our Southern States,
where the negro slaves believed that
the end Of the world was upon them,
while their white masters could not