St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-12-29
HETEoRITEs GocD AS GOLD.


If any one is so lucky as to find one
Of the shooting stars sn the meteoric
showers. he may congratulate himself
on having captured a:prize worth its
weight in gold. The number of col
lectors of meteorites ix,increasing. and
the competition between the different
cabinets, public and private. has caused
a snss;n.,. s5sat advance in NJ price Of rare
The largest and fineSt collection OF
meteorites on this sidesof the Atlantic
is the one il the Harvard MinerslogicaI
museum in Cambridge. Reckoning
European collections ranks about
fifth or sixth in the wSr.d. The Brit
ish museum has the besst collection. as
it has Of so many othsr,things. and the
cabinets in viennas.akd Paris rank
next, says the New York Sun.
Calculating the comparative value OF
collections of meteoritSs il something
of an art. A main point to be taken
into consideration is ihe number OF
falls" SO called, whict are Represent
ed. Ordinarily, perhapl each meteoric
mass which is found represents . sep
arate fall; but often Speteorite splits
into several pieces. falling 50 or 10e
miles distant from ont another or
striking the earth's atmosphere. The
common origin of such pieces il often
demonstrated by analysis or by general
appearance, but more often, perhaps
it remains in doubt.
About 275 falls are represented at
Harvard, with tota. wfight-anothe
factor in estima ting comparative value
--of about 2.s0o pound3. The largest
meteorite known is the famous one dis
covered by Peary in G.eenIand. The
largest meteorite in the Cambridge
collection weighs LOO pounds. But
the largest meteorite is Sot necessarily
the most valuable. Aush depends on
the matter of controls A very large
and famous meteorite i3 Canon Dablo
so called in accordance With the recog-
nized rule for naming mSteorites, from
the locality in Arizona where il was
found. Here great pieces Of thousand
pounds or more can be Obtained by any
one who wants them FIR the troubl:
and expense of carting them away. In
other words. no one con- rolls il, and il
has little or no money ialue. On. the
other hand, a much snhller and less
interesting meteorite owned wholly
or mainly by a single cabtn net is likely to
be worth hundreds of doliars. Asingi.
small piece Of some nota36le meteorite
thus held may easily be jalusd, for ex-
ample, at the rate Of SIS OF 500 pound
The pound. indeed. is mush too clumsy
. standard for SO valuatse material
as meteorite stone or fon, and the
weight of al specimens il recorded in
the catalogues in granimes.
In ancient times and among savage
tribes meteorites have always been
looked upon with moresor less awe,
and have often been objecss Of worship.
The Palladium which fell at Troy, for
example. was doubtless u meteorite.
In three small meteoritks discovered
by the Peabody museuSn ON sltars
raised by the mound builders Of the
Little Miami valley in Chic, Harvard
possesses the only authesntic prehis-
toric examples known tes exist. Such
archaeological or historical interest
adds much to the market
value Of a meteorite. 4 well-known
American collector receatly secured
from the shah of Persia u number of
pieces from famouss semi-sacred
which had beeS in the pos
session Of the royal family for genera
tions, and by disposing II bits to va
rious European museums; ON his way
home, was able, he said. u pay all the
Of his trip to Teeeran.
The earliest American fall recorded
is Campo del Cielo, from tfe Argentine
1883; and the first In the
United States is the WestoA, Connecti-
cut. 1907.