The Washington times., 1919-01-16
DECLARES METEOR
BURST OVER D. c.

DR.. George P. Merrill, head curator,
department OF geology. Smithsonian
Institution, today declared that the
meteor which fell in or near wash
ing ton Sunday night probably broke
into many fragments before hitting
the earth.
DR.. Merrill, who is one of the lead
ing authorities on meteorological
phenomena IN the United states, be-
ueves that the District OF Columbia
and parts OF Maryland and Virginia
were struck BY a shower Cf farming
meteor fragments.
at is possible that the meteor was
one of the large ones, such as the
meteor found by Peary, which
weighed 37h tons" he said. The
meteor seen here Sunday night Trob-
ably broke into thousands OF frag-
ments when IL struck the belt OF air
which surrounds the earth. Serious
damage might have been caused II
the meteor had not broken into small
pieces.
Saved BY Air Belt.
"The meteor would have smashed
into a pulp whatever il fell upon.
And the tremendous impact would
have shattered the mass and a million
fragments like shrapnel would have
been scattered through the air. These
blazing fragments might have beeE
like incendiary bombs. OF course,
flames would soon flicker out. but not
before a score OF fires had been
started.
Washington may, howevef. thank
the belt OF air surrounding the
earth's surface for escaping. When
the meteor reached the air surround
ing the earth. tremendous pressure
was being exerted against it.. Even
this pressure might not have exploded
the meteor, but upon entering the
earth's heavy atmospheric belt,
pressure many times greater was
pushing against the metsc;. This
pressure proved to be irresistible and
the meteor burst into a thousand
pieces miles above Washington. The
pieces spread out fan-like and fell In
the District and in nearby parts Of
Maryland and Virginia
Those who saw fragments report
binding flash, and sometimes an
impact which stunned them momen--
tarily. This disturbance was caused
by the contact OF q piece Of the me-
teor. which weighed but a few ounces.
Imagine the result IL the entire
meteor Of many tons weight, had
fallen in the city,
Specimens Nsn-neteoric.
Two speciments, purported to be of
meteorological origin, brought to The
Times office, were yesterday identi-
fled by DR.. Merrill as non-meteorie.
"a meteor Is usually Of iron or
other metals. and Is generally very
heavy" DR.. Merrill explained 1T is
usually filled with flutings. The sur
race OF the meteor IL, however, al =.
most invariably rather smooth. When
! the meteor Is OF non-metallic com.
position, IL Is OF very erumbly stone,
which falls apart at slight pressure
The stone meteors are covered with
q biackened coat, formed by the
burning OF the outer she'll through
| friction as the meteor falls through
| the air, Meteors do not resemble In
appearances common - stone or Stag.
They look Esther like smoothly coat
ed specimensrof ORE ss.-
zone Of the descriptions Of the fall
OF the meteor lSundaynight came today
from Guy l. Harmon, OF Burke, va.
II was Walking. across q corn field
near Burke, Sunday night, when /
was startled by q sudden FASH OF
light which made everything bTfsht
IS MONDAY, writes Mr.. Harmon "I
looked up and saw q hery bject
down through the air. The head Of
the object was coming toward the
ground
Like Coal Of Fire.
1T looked like a falling coal of IRE.
The flames were sometimes red and
sometimes blue. It descended Is low
as q two-story building. and about
100 yards from me II hissed like a
stTeaks Of light in all directions. One
fash came SO near to me that jump
ed backward. Then ell was quiet.
And all was dark-except for the
moonlight"
Il saw the meteor fall Sunday
evening" writes Capt D. N. Glenn.
Medical Corps, U. S. Army, Of Forest
Glen. Nd. Il was a short distance
from the place where 1t streamed
down, burning brilliantly and nois-
lily"
A portion Of the meteor which
burst over Washington Sunday fell in
Greenwood, Va, according to a letter
| from a reader of The Times.
Was in a dark room of my home
when / noticed an almost binding
flash Of light" he writes. After the
| fash I watched and saw a small ball
OF dre drop to earth. 1 searched for
the meteor, or fragment OF meteor.
but was unable to find II. But I feel
sure that II dropped in the woods on
the hill top at Greenwood, Va"
Another Specimen offered.
Ernest Keller. OF the field medical
supply depot. United States army, 21
NJ street northeast, today sent to The
| Times a piece of stone, which he
thought might be a portion OF the
meteor. The specimen was found to
be nonmeteoric by DR.. Merrill.
! Early last Sunday evening, as ]
was going down North Capitol street" :"
wrote Mr.. Keller. 81 noticed a very
bright light just above my head.
! When first saw the light ! thought
il was from some sort of missile
! thrown from an airplane. But ] could
see no machine in the air Thinking
! that it might explode. l hesitated in
! going very near the object, which by
this time had fallen in a large empty
lot at North Capitol and streets.
Monday morning / went over to the