Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1902-01-31
Astronomy Continued.

.Ona6lng meCeOFS are dCCOlh P1uA0o
by an audible sound, breaking up into
numerous fragments with violent ex-
plosion and noise like that of mus
kerry or the discharge of cannon. The
number of decorating meteors found re-
corded in the Smithsonian Institute in
Washington is over 800. Their height
is about 2 miles. The meteors do not
differ much froul the shooting stars, ex-
cepting in size and density We con-
clude that meteors are bodies which re-
volve about the sun in orbits. The noise
is due to the collapse of the air, rushing
into the vacuum, which is left behind
the flying meteor. Out of the many
millions Of these bodies. emanatlng from
the vast space into our atmosphere, sew
eral ones are large enough to penetrate
/ entirely through our atmosphere and
reach the earth's surface. Before the
Christian era the meteoric stones were
held sacred by the people, because of
their celestial origin (naving fallen from
the sky such as the Palladium OF Troy,
the image of Diana in Ephesus, the
sacred shield Of Numa, etc.
Until the year 1903 the knowledge of
these meteoric stones was very super
fetal. A shower of such stones fell IN
that year in the Province of Normandy,
France. The academy of sciences in
Paris appointed a committee to investi-
gate and the report was, that these
stones had fallen from the atmosphere.
The people ridiculed this report. Some
said, that it was impossible for such
heavy stones to remain in the air SO
long; others said, that there was no
power sufficiently strengthened to lift
up such heavy weights into the sky.
OF course these thought that those were
of earthly origin. Others said, that
these stones fell from the moon or from
the sun.
Where do these stones come from2
answer. that at present any one
would be covered, with ridicule, who
would refuse to admit that stones dc
sometimes fall from beyond the earth'i
atmosphere.
Bodies falling to the earth from be
yond its atmosphere are called aerolites
When they present a stony appearance
they are called meteoric stones. wher
they are chiefly metallic they are called
meteoric iron. In January, 1898, ;
monster meteoric stone fell in ou
neighborhood. In the vicinity of Du
bois, Fremont Co., an aerolite fell in al
immense sand butte. The shock wa
felt for q radius of 90 miles and th
people thought it to be an earthquake
party OF sheepmem came i'll town mex
day and told all about it. They sal
that James Turner, stockman, VIII
was the nearest to the spot where tn
meteor fell, was SO badly shocked, tina
he was found in a semi-conscious state
An effort has been made to dig up part
of the meteor in the interest of science
:, In most cases the composition Of thes
q meteors was nearly one half slick, abou
l.. one-rhird oxyd of iron and one eight
magnesia, with little nickel or sulphe
- In 1917 on July 18th at O'Clock in tn
e morning an iron meteor fell at Brauna
} in Bohemia. 1t weighed AZ pound;
i Part of it fell upon a roof and brok
. through large pieces of timber but di
@ not do further damage than soaring til
inhabitants Of that house The comps
1t sition was 80 per cent iron, 5 per Ger
- nickel with small quantity of coba
and arsenic On May IA 1854 yer
" bright freballwas seen near the City {
Montpelier, a celebrated city in tn
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