The age-herald., 1900-11-04
COLLECTION OF
 SHOOTING STARS
Harvard's Famous Cabinet of MeteoriteS-Curio Analo-
 gieS With TerreStiaI Rocks

lucky as to find one of the Shooting stars which will fall in the meteoric showers due the 18th and 14th of this month he may congratulate himself on having captured a prize worth it's weight in gold. The num- Der of collectors of meteorites is increasing, and the competition between the different cabinets, public and private, has caused a great advance in the price of rare speci- mems.
 The largest and finest collection of me- teorites this side of the Atlantic is the one in the Harvard Mineralogical Museum in Cambridge. Reckoning European collec- tions, 1t ranks about fifth sixth in the world. The British Museum has the best collection, as it has so many other things, and the cabinets in Vienna and Paris rank next. The principal part of the Harvard collection was brought together by one or the most distinguished of American chen ists, the late J. Lawrence Smith of Louis vile, Ky, whose specimens were purchased by subscription in 1883, Professor Smith himself being one of the subscribers.
 Calculating the comparativ value of col lections of meteorites is something of an art, however. A main point to be taken in- to consideration is the number of "falls, so-called which are represented Ordina- rily perhaps, each meteoric mass which Is found represents a separate fall; but often a meteorite splits into several pieces, fall ing fifty or one hundred miles distant from one another, on striking the earth's atmos- phere. The common origin of such pieces is often demonstrated by analysis or by general appearance, but more often, per haps, 1t remains in doubt.
 About 275 falls are represented at liar yard, with total in weight-another factor in estimating comparative value-of about 2SOO nOnndS The largest matporifa kDnvVn is the famous one discovered by Peary in Greenland. The largest meteorite in the Cambridge collection weighs HOO pounds. But the largest meteorite is not necessarily the most valuable. Much depends on the matter of "control." A very large and fa- nous meteorite is Canon Diablo, so called, in accordance with the recognized rule for naming meteorites, from the locality in Ar izona where 1t was found. Here great pieces of thousand pounds or more can be obtained by any one who wants them for the trouble and expense of carting them away. In other words, no one "controls" 1t, and 1t has little or no money value. On the other hand, a much smaller and less interesting meteorite owned wholly or mainly by single cabinet Is liable to be worth hundreds of dollars. A single small piece of some notable meteorite thus held may easily bring, for example, at the rate of $75 or $100 a pound. The pound indeed Is much too clumsy standard for so valuable a material as meteoric stone or iron, and the weight of all specimens Is recorded in the catalogues in grams.
 A museum needs only to keep the bulk piece of a meteorite to retain control of it. Other pieces 1t exchanges with other col lectors with view to increasing its repre- sentation of falls It is interesting to note how carefully the weight and distribution of these various pieces are set dawR trs museum records. One of the most celes brated meteorites in the Harvard Museum Is Cynthiania, found in the township Of that name in Harrison County. Kentucky. It weigheds when found, about 5000 grams, of which 4772 grams are s.pfovable"-that isskcan be assigned to different collections E5n nvarous weights. or this amount the two lafeest pieces. weighing s11s and 5S9 grams H<pfeffvely. are retained by the Universi- " xhile other pieces, from single gram toSoowards of 100, are held for exchange. When control is thus retained, the museum Is ab1ssto count the meteorite as one of its "specialties." Harvard reckons twenty three such specialties in its collection controls, that Is, the largest and most rep resentative pieces of twenty-three separate meteorites.
 In ancient times and among savage tribes meteorites have always been looked upon with more or less awe, and have often been objects of worship. The Palladium which fell at Troy. for example, was doubtless a meteorite. In three small meteorites dis covered by the Peabody Museum on altars raised by the mound builders of the Little Miami Valley in Ohio, Harvard possesses the only authentic prehistoric examples known to exist. Such archaeological or his- torical interest naturally adds much to the market value of a meteorite. well-known American collector Pecently secured from the Shah of Persia a number of pieces from a famous semi meteorite which had been in the possession of the royal family for generations, and by disposing of bits to various European museums on his way home, was able, he said, to pay all the expenses of his trip to Teheran.
 The Harvard collection Is catalogued &C., cording to date of supposed fall, although 1t Is admitted that these dates are often very uncertain. As the author of the cata- logue says, 'the connection between the hre-ball which attracted attention and the meteorite subsequently, found is often only assumed and not established" meteor ite, however, Is more valuable if seen to fall. Next to the prehistoric Ohio speci- mems, the earliest falls represented at Cambridge, are three dating back to 116i, two In SaXony and one in Bohemia. One each is ascrbed to the fourteenth fifteenth and sixteen centuries and eighteen to the eighteenth. The earliest American fall re- corded is Campo del Cielo, from the Argen- tine Republic, 17S3; and the first in the United States Is the Weston, Conn, 1907.
 Not every specimen offered to the collect or of meteorites is genuine; indeed, mis- takes are common Not long ago an old farmer wrote to the Harvard Museum stat ing that when he a boy, in 1s4O, he had seen a shooting star fall in the field back of his house; this he had now dug up, and he was ready to receive offer for 1t from the Museum On examination the supposed meteorite proved to be a common boulder, which had lain in the old mans field for 20, GOO years, more or less It Is oftentimes a very difficult thing to locate the exact spot where a meteorite falls. The blinding light the whole startling nature of the phenomenon, will often cause an observer to think that it has fallen close at hand, when in reality the distance may be as much as twenty-five even fifty miles.
 Meteorites are either of stone, of iron mixed with nickel. Before the latter are put on exhibition they are usually cut in