Sierra County advocate., 1899-01-06
SHOOTING STARSLAND
Many Tons Of Them Reach the
Earth Every Day.
saeh IL the Theory of a. Astren ON
teAl AuthoYfty--Interes Par
tfeulars Of = Recent
Lecture,


Sir Robert Ball, president Of the
Royal Astr r)rcmical society, delivered
in the Birk eek institute recently the
first Of the lectures arranged for the
present season. Ills subject Was The
Lances of Heaven" telling about the
great showers OF shooting Atars that
may be expected in November 1895, or
4 great showers Of stars had REQUIRED
every s3 years with more or less rega
! larity The tIst that took plnee ia this
4 country wason November IS 1s33 An
ordinary shce ting star, even though il
I traced out q brilliant streak ucroNs the
sfnf spangled vaults was by no means
large object A meteor was not 80
big as the moon I he shooting star
was less than mountain or hill,
il WAS even smaller than cottage: not
often were 'he shooting stars 70 heavy
MS "A turnip. or even as y potato; and
many a bright shooting staI was no
lnrger than an ordinary bean; they
we're frequently not 80 large as n pea.
Among the innum rnblc myriads Of
shooting stars mnny were in truth
neither larger nor heavier ihnn the
grains of rlnd on ne seashore For
thousands u years he believed for
tens or bund eds - thousands Of yrafe
- the little meteor hau been hurrying
through space with that extraordinary
speed which utferlS transcribed any
velocity that could be produecd on
earih The earth was Lomhardcd by
shooting sfnrs, dnF and nioht. year IN
and year out ~ hunlieds ~ thousands
of them whloh 'houGh small posse, sed
cNfraordinnry power for doing mig
chief " the mcteors were MOI arrested
in tbcir frcnzied riPht and rendered
perfectly h1rmless he could not tell
what the result would be They were
often exactly ia The line ~ Gre OF the
Prent November shower aud the very
fury with which these lnnccs Of heaven
tried 10 pet rs wie the source of our
salvation 7 1he fpcod Of their niVht
nns 80 prcrofterous that the shooting
star became transformed infn Il streak
ot harmless md b.nutifnl vanor On
the most modstate computation. scores
of tong of mcfenric ra tier were added
each day 20 The previous mass Of the
earth. Since the queen came to the
throne the earth had acquired not less
than half "A million tons of additional
matter. whi'h had been CATHERINE from
The depths ~ spnce No one could tell
where this mhiter was not 10 he found
On loitv Alpine sumtpits ainid The cter-
nal SHOWS, y hose pnlitv haG neN been
gul.led by smoke from furnnces minute
particles were found henrinr evidence
~ having Lcen fused by Intense heat
such PARTICLES were the pooi residues
of plorious shooting stnrs which had
IN comets Amid tbs, ooze
thai cnmc uIi from The bottom OF the
Aflantic were maiv little particles
which had merely EXCHANGED their po-
fifion from the dep hs Of space to the
depths of ocean For thev were the
spols &c tho shootinr efn''s Whiel had
INTO he son The notes which
fontea so henutifr ~ in Tho fheam
frrN'cnilv CON riscd heavenly confri- /
buttons The furrows turned over hy
The rlow ~ he hushnndman contalned
ne w. ifrepi nrora~'io- ~ ato'ie'e /
WHEN IN itf '1pSp ~ sffttNifafie 4tr"S
~ reolorica' time hed heen 7atheroa in (
from the tafl ~ r-i~hty crp fs Grn'rs
~ corn ovnd snm hieu ia h ~cptlp (
rain Of metror'e matter. as usN ~ ~ .
ne ~"nfle rains OF wnre farliiiar de- /
scfi""en Tho laa' ~ il came 70 the (
taiae c"ntli"ed within u PARTICLES
which hnd Nc"a~ed tor nacouffed thou
snnas Il centuries ~ time throrch IL
iip'4'ohlc millions of space Thus 10
rrovide tho rc'ual r'Ntetinl 81 onr
NOailv fr1i1e the rsmotest realms OF 4
nace hrd been ield under con frihution
ihe life of everyone pr sent was ~
thrt moment IL inpwrtc association
lfh PARTICLES that bad been trNW~ht
ihither Nv shooting stars These won.
'ers of the shooting stars did hnt lead
hem ~ think Of those fine words of
Eu l.in: ~ is bni the outer hem ~
Gods wreat rnnntle our poor stars do
gem London STANDARD