Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-03-15
GIFTS FROM SPACE
Wonderful Nstsorites That Drop
to Us Out Of the sky.
ONCE REGARDED AS SACRED.

III che Early Days They Were Oh.
jects Of Reverence and Worship,
40 Is the Famous Stone at Mecca TO.
day-Their Fiery Flight TO Earth.
In considering the wonders Of the
universe have yon eve realized how
conspicuous AMONG them are the me-
teorites, those wonderful messages
dropped from the sky for us to wonder
at and study? They are the only ma
terial objects which come to the earth
from the vast outer world.
Among the collections shown in the
National museum at Washington IL Il
remarkably fine exhibit of meteorites.
1t includes complete meteorites rang
Ing In size from tile merest pebbles to
great bowlder-likc masses and casts re-
producing giant forms like TINT of ia
cubirito, which has been estimated 10
weigh twenty-five tons and still rests
where 1t fell in Mexico.
The National museum has issued a
handbook and descriptive catalogue OF
the meteorite collections in the mu
scum, written by DIR. George p. Mcr.
rill. head curator OF geology, from
which the following is an abstract:
Although meteorites presumably have
fallen since time immemorial, skop>
ticism was felt at first by both the
popular and scientific minds regarding
the possibilities of stones falling from
space. In the few early recorded cases
where meteorites seen to fall We're re
covered they were regarded as objects
Of reverence and worship. A stone
which fell in ancient Phrygia, in Asia
Minor, about 200 years before Christ
was worshiped as Cybele, the mother
Of the gods. Another, which dates
back to the seventh century, is still
preserved at Mecca, where 1t is built
into the northeast corner Of the Ka'a-
ba and reyered MS one of the holiest of
relics. The great Casas Grandes Iron,
weighing about 1900 pounds, now In
the national collection at Washington.
was found in an ancient Mexican ruin
swathed In mummy clothes in a man
ner to indicate that it was held III
more than ordinary yeneration by the
prehistoric Inhabitants.
The earliest known undoubted me.
teorites still preserved are those of
Elbogen, Bohemia and Ensisheim, Up
per Alsace. The first mentioned is
iron, the second a stone. The iron was
found somewhere about the year 1900
of III era. The Ensisheim stone, seen
to fall on Nov. 16, 1902, about the time
Columbus made his discoveries, was
accompanied with a loud crash like
thunder. Portions of this stone are to
be seen In the National museum ex-
hibit.
The fall Of a meteorite is usually ac-
~companied by noises yariously describ.
ed as resembling the fire of musketry,
cannOnading or ever thunder. If the
fall takes place during the periods of
darkness it Is also accompanied by a
fash Of light and followed by a lunli.
nous rOcket-liSe trail. These phenoiae.
ma are due to the rapid passage Of the
objects through the air and Il conse.
sSAuNAAt kAcS III Temperature EuiiitlSlL To
produce fusion of the outer surface
and even ignition, thus giving rise to
the thin, dark, glasslike crust which
Is found to cover oil stony mcteorites
The time of passage through the at
mosphere Is, however, too short to per-
init the heat to penetrate to great
depths, and nearly all meteorites are
quite cool, or scarcely warm, on reach
Ing the surface of the ground. 1t is.
to the sudden rise In temperature and
pressure Of the atmosphere that the
breaking up of a meteorite and Its
reaching the ground as a shower of
fragments rather than a single indIvid.
nal are due.
We have little to guide us in estimat-
Ing the speed Mt which a meteorite
reaches the earth and it's consequent
power Of penetration. The velocitfea
as given by various observers vary be.
tween two and forty-ive miles a Sec
Ond. The greatest recorded depth OF
penetration Of a meteoric stone is that
ss0f Knyahinya, Hungary. where a eco
pound stone penetrated to a depth of
eleven feet. On the other hand, still
heavier masses have been found under
such conditions as to lead one to infer
that they scarcely buried themselves.
A1lSstatemenfs relative to the temper.
aturegof m~eteorites Immediately after
reaching the ground must be accepted
guardedly, owing to their extremely
contradictory scharacter. Some stones
Which fell III Styria In 1850 are stated
Sfo have remained In d state of incan,
descence forever i've seconds and for
eQukrter .of an hour e zoo hot to
tebandled. On the other hand, the
phnrnselRsstonaiA4Sa1d e have been
NDte1sely cold when picke0 up ImInedi
4telysAfter falling.
E6e largest known meteoric mass Is
That thought by Commander geary
2ccm CApe York, Greenland. II weigh
q 18so00 pounds The next largest
ths plain near Racubirito, IN
md has been estimated toI
a6gone 1000 pounds while the
sN1)II4 s81assthat Wtllamette Ores
ttiinslS \ 1l07 ponnds These aresal
sfGSSf eSInn tG6fffee1n SSss4 4 Known