The Washington times., 1919-07-13
BIZ DR.. W. II. BaIIoH.

that our earth Is steadily shrinking
1 in size, whitening up and wTfnkling
as its interior heat is slowly radiated into
the cold of space, viii be interested in
knowing that science now says this is not
true. Far from it, our earth is steadily
growing bigger!
Rushing through space with the sun,
whirling at the same time around our
luminary, It is constantly collecting dust
and fragments from dead and Worn-out
other suns, worlds and moons, comets and
wisps of nebulas-detritus Of cosmic fam
lies that have died out and the sweepings
Of other mansions in the skies" slowly
being built
The actual number of fragments-exclu-
sive Of the planetary dust-that fall within
the attraction OF the earth each year has
even been calculated. It reaches the stu
pendous total, according to Professor
Simon Newcomb. the eminent American
astronomer, of $4,000 100000 per annum!
He arrived at this conclusion, says M.
Camille Flammarion, the distinguished
French astronomer, by enumerating the
number Of shooting stars which are seen
above a given horizon during the different
nights of the year. calculating the number
of similar horizons which would comprise
the whole surface Of the globe, and by TAX
ing into account the directions Of shooting
stars, the monthly variations and so on.
This was truly prodigious census taking,
q monumental feat of mathematical genius
and scientific observation!
To the unscientiic, the question will at
once arise as to why, if bombarded night
and day by such celestial battery, we are
not continually being squashed by meteors
on our way to and from work, on our farms
and in our chicken yards and gardens
indeed, why our homes and office build
ings and factories are not riddled with
sky-shot daily!
The answer to this is that our atmos-
phere provides an impenetrable shield
AGAINST all except very small-in COM
parison to the total-number. The great
majority of the fragments range in weight
from little more than pound to little
over a hundred pounds. When these
strike the atmosphere it is usually at the
rate Of thirty-one miles a second, and this
terrific speed creates by friction with the
MINER air heat which almost Immediately
consumes the meteor, leaving behind only
q little cloud of dust. This dust falls slow
" down through the atmosphere. harm
Iessly, to add itself to other accretions
from the same sources.
Furthermore, the total surface OF the
world is 100000, 900 square miles-a very
large target indeed, upon which man and
the habitaticns of man are widely scat
tered.
Enormous masses do reach the earth's
Surface however, without being changed
into dust The heaviest authentic aerolite
which any collection possesses is in Rio
de Janeiro. It weighs FIVE and half tons.
There is another in China, near the source
Of the Yellow River, Of nine and a half
tons, and still a larger one in the plain
OF Tucuman, South America, Of fifteen
tons. Enormous blocks Of meteoric iron.
weighing from ten to twenty tons each,
have been found in Greenland; another
that weighed thirty tons and which broke
into fourteen blocks was discovered some
years ago on a mountain in Brazil.
sIt is interesting to note that the first
Instruments Of iron forged by man were
made from meteors, and the ancient word
By which they designated this metal, the
word siderus, signifed a star as well as
iron.
But besides these showers there are vast
clouds Of dust drifting through the aether
dust clouds that may sometime join
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