The sun., 1908-11-29
LORE or TIE METEOR.
Diuns Honors Paid It-stOne Preserved
IN . Church.

|
The gloomy month Of November bring
the illumination Of the meteor, 1t 10 th'
special month for these swift and erratit
wanderers Of the sky. It is only withir
the last hundred years that science hal
taken up the study Of the meteor seriously
but In all ages its fitful gleam has captured
the imagination Of men.
The mystery Of its origin fascinated
and the fact Of its coming from above
suggested heavenly source. And sc
around the meteor and the meteorite In
pre-sdentiho days, says the London Globe
there gathered no little supersttous and
fanciful lore. The meteorite came from
above. that IL. from heevenl therefore II
was divine. So ran the simple logic oi
the time. For this reason temples were
built and divine honors paid to the me-
teorite.
In Asia In early times fragment wai
picked up which probably bore very
rude resemblance to human figure. I,
was looked upon as an image Of Diana
sent down from Jupiter. A great temple
was built at Ephesus in its honor. the
Temple OF Diana of the Ephesians. There
from all parts of Asia people hooked to
worship meteorite.
Of their history. fell under the spell Of the
meteorite. Eneas, the mythio founder
Of the race, is said to have carried one
with him to Italy. and one Of the strang-
est pictures In the wonderful gallery
Of Roman history is that Of the Emperor
Heliogabalus paying. divine honors to his
meteorio god; for the head Of the inn
| fal I'll txh IN tar NIL
whose god was rude fragment Of meteofic
stone.
A magnificent temple was built for II
In Rome. Every morning heoatombs
Of bulls and sheep were offered, flrkins
Of the richest wines were poured out
and much costly incense was burned.
Every year the meteorite god was carried
temple In the suburbs. The chariot
In which IL rode glittered with gold and
precious stones and was drawn by six
white horses In golden trappings. The
Emperor himself held the reins, walking
backward 90 as to keep his eyes fixed
on his god. On either side the people
ran bearing torches and throwing gar
lands Of flowers as they passed.
On another occasion a meteorio stone
played an important part in Roman his
tory. 1t fell In ancient times in Phrygia
Phrygians and Phtsnioians as Cybele,
-the mother Of the gods" To 1t had been
asoribed the victory Of the Romans over
Hannibal In the first Punio War. So
when in later years the Carthagenian
General had crossed the Alps and main
the troubled Rom ans wished for the
wonderful stone.
They had learned from the Sybilline
books that an enemy might be expelled
from Italy II the stone was brought To
Rome. So they went to King Attalus,
asking that 1t might be sent. 1t was
carried with much ceremony to the
and sure enough Hannibal was presently
compelled to return TO Africa. Having
sur1nounted incredible difficulties. he was
yet forced TO yield TO q meteodtel
Even In more recent times the meteorite
seemed to have lost little Of it's power. A
b. Raphael the IN MSdonns s d
stones. The fall took place while the
Pope was at war with France. The
French were defeated and the papal
victory was ascribed to tha meteorites.
In 1892 a large meteorite, weighing 800
pounds. fell In Alsaoe. The Emperor
Maximilian was then at Basel. and by his
command the stone was brought to the
castle.
There a solemn consultation was held
as to what message 1t brought from
heaven. 1t was finally decided to hang it
up in the church, there to be carefully
preserved; but the Emperor had, 1t ap-
pears, first broken of two pieces, one for
himself and the other for Duke Sigismund
Of Austria-probably for luck. The very
identical stone may now be seen In the
Rathhaus Of the town.
The Moslems have also fallen under the
spell OF the meteorite. Their famous
"black stone one Of their holiest relics,
built into the northeast corner OF the
Kaaba at Mecca, Is meteorite. When
Mohammed took the sacred city he found
the meteorite already regarded as a holy
thing. According to an old legend II
had been given by God to Abraham. So
the oonqueror spared 1t and even did it
reverence,