Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-07-31

'f''Hf 49, y y " a'A't'
, hrls,. Was worshipcd as Cybcle. the
mother Of The gods. Another. which
dates back To the seventh century is
sun preserved at Mecca. whore it IS
hul!t Into the northeast corner OF the
harHba. n rcvcrcd as ono OF the
l~l'li"St Of relics. The great casas
traudcs iron. weighing about 5000
rounds. nov in the national collections
, a. Washington, WAS touud in AN ancient
M"Nican ruin swa,hcd with mummy
cloths IN a ann 10 Indicate that 1t
was held in more thun ordinary vcuera-
ton hy the prehistoric inhabitants.
FALL ACCOMPANIED ny
SOUND LIKE THUNDER
The earliest known u]udoubtcd
m"'epritcs sim preserved arc those Of
Lihoscn, Bohemia and Ensishcim. up
p"r Alsacc. Germany The first ulau-
Toned be- iron, the second 4 stone. rho
iron was found somewhere about tho
Year 1900 OF our era. but its i~uetcoric
HhiHi" seems not - haV" been fully
established until isl2 It has. how
Der, for several hundred years boon
preserved la the Ha;hhaus at Eihogcu.
The iusishcim stone. sc.n to fall on
' N"vcwhcr Is, !i92, about tho tim.
columbus mad" hi. discoveries. was
accompanied with "a loud crash like
ihHudcr Portions Of This stone arc to
." s"en Ia tho Natioual Museum cN-
hDtl'
H' H'H alhA'Hifff is
NE last should have gone a long way
toward convincing tho ~seicn,ilc world
H' l"as', tut such was not the case,
ana - late ;s i112 a committee pre-
sonicd TO the French Academy a report
90 the examination OF a stone seen TO fall
at Luce, four years previously. which
they asserted was bat, an ordinary
rock that had been siruek by lightning.
Iu 1874 the German scientist Chladni
/, brought together all the accounts oil
tho supposed rnc,aorltcs, calling tho at
'euticn OF the scientific world to tho
fao; hat several masses Of iron had In
al! probability come TO tho earth from
the outer space. lie referred csp.-
clally 20 tn" now wrll-EuoWu Pal!as
iron, which was founc by q CoStack in
iIi9 among tn. rocks IN III" highest
part OF a lofty mountain near krasuo-
iarsk. in Siberia. Chladni argued that
this iron could have been formed only
>uuter the Influence Of fire, and held
that it could not hav" been formed
where found, or hy man. electricity or
AZ accidental c~on;iugration. Hence. he
Inferred that it had been projected
from a distance. ana. rs there were no
Volcanoes known 1" eject iron and none
in that vicinity. h- was compelled to
regard II as actually haVUug fallen
from the sky. During this same Wear
au observed shower of mcteoric stones
fell near Sicna. Italy. and ;hc follow
Ing year a tfty-S!X pound stone fen
tout Of a clear sky almost AT the feet
az a laborcg in Yorkshire. England.
while in lI9S many more stones fell
At Krakhut. near BenarcS. India.
SCIENTISTS SLOW
no ACCEPT PROOFS
" The scientific mind was, however,
slow in accepting these proofs. but.
fortunately. a shower Of stones. up
ward OF 5000 in number. occurred
about April, 1893. in the mcighborhood
Of LAItl", near Paris. The cir"um-
stances "f this fall We're fully invest!-
gated under the auspices Of the French
Academy OF sciences, tn. report OF
which was of so conclusive Il nature as
to forever set at rest all doubts con
cerning their celestial origin.
The fall Of a mctcorite is usually ac-
companied by noises variously de-
scribed AZ resembling the fire OF mus
Retry. ~cannonading, or even thunder.
Ii the fall takes place during the
periods OF darkness. ii is also accom-
panied by a flash OF light and followed
BY a luminous rocketlikc trail. These
phenomena are due to the rapid BASS
age of the objects through the air, and
n consequent rise in temperature, suf-
| fcicnt TO produce fusion Of the outer
| surface and even ignition. thus giving
rise 10 the thin. dark, glasslike crust
which is found to cover all stony
mctcoritcs. The time Of passage
| n FlA-ll nv - - w Nv I'll.
TOO short to permit the heat to penc-
,ratc to great depths, and nearly all
metcorites are quite cool. or scarcely
warm. on reaching the surface Of the
Ground IT Is to the sudden rise in
temperature and pressure of the atmos-
phcrc that the breaking up of Il
mctcorite and its reaching the ground
has Il shower of fragments. rather thar
n single individual, is due.
We have little to guide us in esti-
mating the speed at which Il meteorite
reaches the earth and its consequent
mower Of pcnetration. The vciociticS
as given by various observers vary be-
tween two and forty-tivc miles Il
second. The greatest recorded depth
If penetration of q mctcoric stone is
that Of Knyahinya. Hungary, whore a
500 pound stone penetrated to n depth
heavier masses have been found under
such conditions as to lead one to infer
that they scarcely buried themselves.
CONTRADICTORY REPORTS
AS no III AZURE
All statements relative to tho TOM
ncraturc of mctcoritcs Immediately
after reaching the ground must be ac-
ceptcd guardcdly. owing TO their cX-
trcmcly contradictory character. Some
stones which fell in Syria i'm 1859 are
stated Il have remained In Il state of
incandescence for over five seconds, and
for a quarter Of an hour were too hot
10 be handled. On tho other hand, the
|Dhurmsala stone is said to have been