Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-11-04


| Special to the Register.
! BOSTON, November 1.--f anyone Is
SO lucky as to find one Of the shoot
ing stars" which will fall in the me-
teoric shows due the 18th and 14th OF
| this month, he may congratulate him
], self on having captured prize worth
| its weight in gold. The number of coll
| lectors of meteorites is increasing, and
| the competition between the different
| cabinets, public and private, has caused
| a great advance in the price OF rare
| specimens.
!, The largest and finest collection of
meteorites on this side of the Atlantic
| is the one in the Harvard Mineralogo-
| gical Museum in Cambridge. Reckon
| ing European collections it ranks about
fifth or sixth in the world. The British
Museum has the best collection, as it
| has of so many other things, and the
cabinets in Vienna and Paris rank
| next. .Ae principal part of the Har-
| ward collection was brought together
| by one of the most distinguished Of
| American chemists, the late J. Law
| renee Smith, of Louisville, KY, whose
specimens were purchased by subscrip
| ton in 1888, Professor Smith himself
being one Of the subscribers.
Calulating the comparative value of
| collections of meteorites is something
| of an art, however. A main point is
| the number of falls" SO called which
| are represented. Ordinarily, perhaps,
| each meteoric mass which is found re-
presents separate fail; but often
| meteorie splits into several pieces, fall
n mil dicfo
| another, on striking the earth's atmos-
| phere. The common origin of such
| pieces is often demonstrated by an
! alysis or by general appearance, but
more often, perhaps, it remains in
doubt.
About 275 falls are represented at
| Harvard, with total weight-another
factor in estimating comparative value
of about $500 pounds The largest
| meteorite known is the famous one
| discovered by Peary in Greenland The
| largest meteorite in the Cambridge
collection weighs HOO pounds But the
| largest meteor is not necessarily
the most valuable. Much de-
| ponds on the matter of "con-
troll" A very large and famous
meteorite is Canon Diablo, SO called.
in accordance with the recognized rule
1or naming meteorites, from the local
! lty IN Arizona where it 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 it. and
| it has little or no money value. On
! the other hand, a much smaller and
less interesting meteorite owned wholly
| or mainly by single sabinet is likely
| to be worth hundreds of dollars. A
single small piece of some notable me-
teorite thus held may easily bring, for
example, at the rate of $75 to S100
| pound. The pound indeed is much
| too clumsy standard for so valuable
material as meteoric stone or iroa.
and the weight of all specimens is re-
carded in the catalogues in grams.
| A museum needs only to keep the
bulk piece OF meteorite to retain con-
| troll OF it. Other, pieces it exchanges
with other collectors with a view to
increasing its representation of falls.
1t is interesting to note how carefully
| the weight and distribution of these
various pieces are set down in museum,
| records. One of the most celebrated
meteorites in the Harvard Museum is
| Cynthiania, found in the township of
that name in Harrison county, Ky. It
weighed, when found, about 5000
grams, of which 4772 grams are pro
vable'-that is, can be assigned to
| different collections in various weights.
OF this amount, the two largest pieces,
weighing S113 and $50 grams respec-
| lively, are retained by the University,
while other pieces, from a single gram
to upwards OF 400, are held for ex-
change. When control is thus retain
| ed, the museum is able to count the
! meteorite as one of its "specialties"
| Harvard reckons on 20 such specialties
in its collection, that is, the
largest and most representative pieces
of 20 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 worships.
The Palladium which fell at Troy, for
example, was doubtless a meteorite.
In three small meteorites discovered by
the Peabody Museum on affairs raised
| by the mound builders of the Little
Miami Valley in Ohio, Harvard possess
ses the only authentic prehistoric ex-
amples known to exist. Such archaeo-
logical or historical interest naturally
adds much to the market value of a
meteorite. A well known American
collector recently secured from the
Shah of Persia number of pieces from
a famous semi-sacred meteorite which
had been in the possession of the royal
family for generations, and by dispos-
ing of bits to various European mu-
seums on his way home, was able, he
said, to pay all the expenses of his
| trip to Teheran.
The Harvard collection is catalogued
according to date of supposed fall, al
though it is admitted that these dates
are often very uncertain. As the author
OF the catalogue says, the connection be-
tween the nre-ball which attracted at
tention and the meteoritte subsequent
~ found is often only assumed, and not
established" A meteorite, however, is
more valuable if seen to fall Next to
the prehistoric Ohio specimens. the
earliest falls represented at Cambridge
are three dating back to 11e4. two in
Saxony and onei Bohemia. One each
is ascribed to the fourteenth, fifteenth
1 OF -