The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-11-18

have probably Wondered. sr you have
watched a brilliant shooting star burn
m way through the oisckness of a
summer night, whers these strange
visitors come from and where they
60. A recent publication of the smith
sonian Institution deals with the or
Eetn OF shooting stars and fireballs-
both included IN the term meteor
The various explanations put forward
Ut different times in the past to &C
G9unt for these striking phenomena
are discussed, and the author then
takes up the present ideas and the
most probable theory IS TO their
origin.
The knowledge Of stones which
have fallen from heaven extends iuto
the oldest history Of humanity. back
into prehistoric sipes. Among she
Chinese the mention of heaven stones
gees back TO 5000 years. and falling
stones have always been known ~
The people Of Asia Minor, by the
Greeks ard Romans. py all these
ancient peoples. the Messengers of
Heaven were generally regarded as
divine gifts But with the advance
ef Cnrsstfanfty smother idea Of f0ete-
erfses became prevalent. Gradually
here wns lost the Oriental conception
IT then s& blessings. and through the
whole Middle Ages ard almost down
10 the present DAY The falling et me-
.NorffAs was considered a warming Of
approaching misfortune.
By the latter part Of ths eighteenth
century the Occurrences OF falling
stones had been 50 long forgotten
that fall which occurred near Luce.
In Franco, In 1879. caused great an
ssrrassrn~rt n ths professors and
scadeu!ctsn at Paris. because they
ala not know what 10 make OF The
event a similar condition prevailed
also IN America for when some ore
told President Jefferson In 1907 thai
Two professors had described the fan
nf stone he declared "One can
rather believe that twc Yankee pro-
fessor~ lie than believe that stones
Fall from heaven"
Passing over the beautiful mythical
conceptions Of ths Oriental peoples
and the assumption In the Middle
Ages that they might he due to Mght-
ming. snA ean divide into two groups
those holding opinions as 10 tho origin
1S mefeorttes supporters of the ny
rothesfs that they came from spars
and did not belong originally 70 the
earth and tie atm osphere. and the stip~
porters Of the hypothesis that they
did originally h@lony tn our planet
f~0 sub groups, those who believe
That meteorftes come from unlimited
space ard the supporters of the nv
pothesis that they are elected from
lunar volcanoes The second rroun
.aNaoining. tns. terrestrial origin ~
Frieteorites is divided into those who
think that they originated from the
constituents Of the atmosphere and
those who consider them elected from
ferrestrial volca noes
These have bern many respected al
herents ~ the hypothesis of the or
fgin of rctorfses frnrn the volcanoes
ef the moon Telescope observation
rave information as to the surface II
the moon, up0n which eraters would
80 TT vrr TIT HrT nEt UTEif II WaA eafgr-
Hshed that 81 vvlc1no or tho moon
would not possess sufficient energy
TO irupart - an elected block Of stone
the necessary intti al velocity to reach
our earth ala the hvput hesis NJ lunar
origin fall into dsfavor The ides
that Tneteoritee were formed out or
constituents ~ the atmosphere was
held only ~ ieur rs their rorn position
Was as yet little known. II was soon
seen thai fror nickel chromium
EiIca. etc, could not be contained in
the air ard this and many other res-
sons withdrew every support from the
hypothesis az tho origin of meteoric
masses n the atmosphere
Or longer duration wss the theory
~ their terrestrial origin According
~ this fhet ARE Ea9d 10 have be@n
thrown out ~ TIE fntertor Of our
pisret III the dim early ages with SO
great FORE that they we're carried
beyond The lireit of IT'S attrn~tion 10
fem q ring around It, like that of
Saturn out Of which fragments fall
TO the earth again Astronomic ny.
rothesis So 70 the origin Of rnHteorite@
ala not develop until much later, and
took their rise from the Idea that ne.
senrftes shooting stars ard comets
w~re All of the Fe me character. by
studvlng the ort4ts ~ comets ana
meteo.s the theory was formulated
that comets which have become peri
odic split M into periodic swarma nj
shooting stars which vevolwe in the
SOURCES ~ the mother comet The
Hrehals are according In this theory
nothing more rnr less than shooting
strrs which have been driven into
lower LAYERS of air and appear 10 us
In larger sizes.
In opposition 70 this theory an nv
rothesis was proposed I'm 1875. based
mon minerala geological basis
uron the study ~ the component ma
,@rfst q the rnsteoriet. and upon the
times or Arrival OF upteorttes OF Ike
composition According to this
theory. which is wenerailv accepted
sndav. from the shape ard the slicAen
sided surfaces Of meteoriteS tAev are
fragments froken from email plane.
tarv masses by volcanic explosto rs
0uch explosions can only he brought
about By sudden eKpa uslon of gases
and steam, among which hydrogen
s may have bsen ja the first rank.