Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-11-15
Falling Meteors.

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They come rushing through space,
strike the atmosphere, and the friction
against the molecules of air heats
them to a white heat, and sets them
ablaze. Sometimes part of one may
reach the EARTH but as a rule they are
consumed and the dust alone, cosmlc
dust, drops upon the surface. One of
the earliest known meteors fell in "a
b. c. in Phrygia, where for a long time
1t was worshipped. 1t was carried to
Rome and was supposed to be mes
sage from the gods. Livy describes
shower Of meteoric stones. The people
were greatly alarmed and the Senator's
were demoralized and declared nine
days festival to propltlate the gods.
There is at Mecca a meteorite which
fell in 600 A. d. and is still worshipped
by the faithful. In Chinese literature
there is mention of meteors which fell
644 B. c. The Oldest known meteorite
which was seen to fall is now on ex-
hL,ition at Enslsheim, Alsace, Germ
any In 1892 it came crashing down
through the air with a roar that pros
trated the peasantry with fright. 1t
buried itself deeply in the earth. 1t
weighed 260 pounds and hangs today
in the parish church.
The Chupaderos meteorite, which
weighed 25 tons, fell in Chihuahua,
Mexico. The largest meteorite known
is the Peary stone, which weighs ap-
proximately 100 tons. The stone of
Canon Diable weighs at least ten tons
and exploded high in the air, the pieces
being found all over the surrounding
country. In Italy several instances
are known of the loss Of life from me-
teorites. A peasant was sitting in his
cabin and was killed by an iron mass
that crashed through the roof; the act
was regarded as a visitation of divine
anger. The city of Milan is perhaps
the only one that has been struck by
meteorite. A metecrite of several
pOuhuS 'MSI5uI lell III tire uedIl vi llIdl
city in the year 1860, on the authority
of Paolo Maria Tezzayo, and struck a
FRANCISCAN monk.
More remarkable are the falls at sea.
That a ship should oe struck would
seem an extraordinary chance, yet a
swedish ship was so struck, the stone
killing two of the crew. On December
1, 1866, the snip Walkomming was
sailing from New York to Bremen
when her officers noticed a brilliant
meteor that appeared to be bearing
down on the vessel from southeast TO
northwest. 1t passed with a loud roar
and kissing sound and plunged into
the sea ahead of the ship. That it was
meteor of large size was evident, for
few minutes later the ship was
struck by a tidal wave. Even more re-
markable was the experience of the
British ship Cawdor, which reached
San Francisco November 20, 1897.
During a severe storm a large and
brilliant meteor was observed rushing
down upon the ship and with roar
and filling the air with fumes of sui
phur it passed between the masts of
the ship and fell into the sea not so
feet from the rail.
One of the greatest -curosities pos
sessed by man today is a supposed
fragment of a comet in Mazapil Mexi-
co. The fragment is believed to be
part of the tail Of Blela's comet. In
1916 something happened in space; |
wreck occurred; Biela's comet may |
have collided with another comet; in |
any case the comet divided and many |
living observers remember seeing the |
TWO parts gradually separating. Some
fatality pursued one part of the comet |
and it met its fate in infinite space,
literally upon the shoreless sea of |
space. Astronomers predicted that if
he comet itself did not appear in 1872
is Wreckage would become visible as
shooting stars, and this prediction was
'ealized apparently, as on November
z, 1872, there burst from the heavens
| cloud of shooting stars. During the
display one piece dropped upon the
arth and was secured at Mazapll Mex
co, and was declared to be a part of
he great comet.
The average meteorite Immediately
Ifter its fall is intensely hot; but at
east one, which was landed imme-
lately after falling, still held the in
ense cold of space A few men can
ay hey have experienced this. A
neteorite exploded above Dhurmsala,
iangra, Punjaub India, in 1860, and a
ection was picked up Immediately by
ONE natives, who dropped it with ex-
ressions of pain. The explosion had
exposed tn interior of the meteor
which had been chilled by the intense
old of space and was so cold that its
fleet was like a burn. This fragment
S now to be seen IN the Field Museum.
t, DR.. harrington, the curator said:
This is perhaps the only instance
.nown where the cold of space has be-
ONE perceptible to human senses. =
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