The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-09-19

thin stratum of air, an invisible
amor of great tenuity, lies between
nan end the menace of possible an
nihilation.
The regions of space beyond our
rIsnet are filed with flying fragments.
g,me meet the earth in its onward
rusb: others, having attained incon-
ceiysble velocity, overtake and crash
into the whirling sphere with loud de-
t,nation and ominous glare, finding
destruction in its molecular armor, or
perhaps ricochetir g from it again into
the unknown. Some come singly, va
grant fragments from the infinity Of
space; others fall in showers like gol-
den rain; all constituting a lombard.
uent appalling in it's magnitude. It
hs been estimated that every twenty
bur hours the earth or it's atmosphere
Bstruck by 400, 600, 900 missiles of iron
Or stone, ranging from an ounce up to
tons in weight. Every month there
ushes upon the flying globe at least
1000, 900, 600 iron and stone fragments,
which, with lurid accompaniment,
crash into the circumambient stmos.
phere. o wing to the resistance OF.
tsred by the air, few OF these eolid
shots strike the earth. They move
91t of space with a possible velocity
[ 80 or 40 miles per second, and, like
moths, plunge into the revolving globe,
4 WED to their destruction by It's fatal
yEsction. The moment they enter
custmoephere they ignite; the air Is
piled up and compressed ahead Of
them with inconceivable force, the re-
GlIant friction producing an imme-
date rise in temperature, and the
shooting star, the meteor of popular
p~3rlance, is the result.
Meteorites vary in siz9 from minute
objects not larger than a yea to masses
Of iron of enormous siza. The Chu
paleros meteorite, which fell in Chi
nuahua, Mexico, weighs twenty five
tons. Another, which fell in Kansas,
broke into myriRds Of pieces, the sec
tons found weighing 1900 pounds.
A meteorite in the Vienna Museum,
Whieh fell in Hungary, weighs 647
pounds, while the Cranbourne meteor
tie in the British Museum weighs four
tons. Tae Rad River msteorite in the
Yale Museum weighs 1880 pounds.
The largest meteorite known was dis
covered within the Arctic Circle by
Lieutenant PeRry. The Eskimos had
known of it for generations as a source
Of supply for iron. It was found by
Lieutenant Peary in May, 1894, but,
owing TO its enormous weight, could
not BE- removed until the summer Of
1897, when, after much labor, it was
eEcaVated and hoissed into the hold OF
tue steam whaling bark Hope and car
red to New York, where it has found
3 resting place in the cabinet Of the
American Museum of Natural History.
tis believed to weigh about one hun
tred tons.
Up to 1772 the stories Of bodies fall,
as from space were not entertained
"~ri5usly by scientific men. So emf
lent q scientist as Lsvoisier, after
thoroughly Investigating a case, de
aled that it was merely a stone which
had been struck by lightning, Falls
olsily occurred which demonstrated
0eyold dispute that the missiles came
Rom spece, and science recognized the
@ct that the earth was literally being
~oom0arded, and that human safety was
Uue 10 the atmospheric armor, scarcely
-.jeetthEcg, that enveloped the earth.
Jle OF the NEST remarkable falls dur.
Ig recent years is known as the Great
A'nsas Meteor. It was evidently Of
.a'ge SIZE, flashing into sight eighty
" ninety miles from the earth, or the
;. 4 OF June, 1876. over the State OF
41nsa5. To the first observers it ap-
Jared to come from the vicinity Of
.-7 moon, and resembled a small moon
sIsantic fire ball, blszing brightly,
: creating terror and amazement
lung thousands of spectators who
mHnessed it's fight. 1t passed to the
disappearing near the horizon in