Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-16
THIS little old earth Of our own is some
L thing of q metenr urahher

Prof. j. n. Lockyer, the astronomer,
some years ago estimated that not less than
20,OOO, 600 luminous meteors fall upon our
planet daily.
This number, however, by no means rep
resents the total number Of minute meteor
ties that enter our atmosphere; those that
are invisible to the naked eye.
1t has been calculated that the total num-
Der Of meteorites, including those visible to
sight, should be increased by twenty fold,
giving the grand total Of 400, ,000, 900.
And this number, 1t is estimated, falls
on the earth every twenty -four hours.
Every now and then a huge aerolite,
weighing tons, comes hurting through the
air and explodes with terrific detonation,
or else falls into the sea or burics itself
deeply in the ground.
There are scores Of authenticated cases
Like these.
TIHB British steamship Tropic on April 6,
l. 1880, when OF Cape Hatteras, barely
escaped being hit BY a meteorite:
Captain Barber, in command, said the
distinguished an incandescent ball rushing
out of the skies directly toward the Tropic.
It plunged into the sea short distance
away. filling the air with showers Of tiny
sparks.
The object was as large as balloon.
Meteorites figure largely in history.
In the Smithsonian Institution in Wash
tngton there is a meteorite weighing 1900
pounds. 1t fell in Mexico in A. d. 1900.
A ''sky stone" weighing more than 5000
pounds is owned by the Royal Museum Of
Stockholm.
When off the coast of Newfoundland on
January 2, 1899, the steamship Gleadowe
had a mast shattered by a meteor which ex-
ploded and scattered fragments over the
deck.
Hundreds Of other instances might be
cited.
Iowa for years merited the name Of tho
Meteor State because Of. the number that
fell and were recovered within its boundaries @
A great meteor on May 10, 1879, burst
and scattered over good part OF northern
Emmett County.
The cabinet Of the University Of Mime
sofa contains a piece of it that weighs ITO
pounds.
TT THERE are 400, 100000 meteorites
J. falling every day on the earth and their
heat and light are unnoticeable by the ordi-
nary individual, 1t Is difficult to account for
the increased heat of the sun from this cause.
The number Of meteors that will be at
tracted to globe will doubtless be- according
to its size.
!, In the case of the sun, owing to its vast
size, the more vehement will be its attrac-
ton and the greater the number OF objects
that will be drawn into its extensive at
mosphere.
The See theory is not as stated above,
1t must be said. distinctly new. 1t was ad-
vanced first many years ago.
One estimate advanced was that for every
meteorite attracted TO the earth at least
l 600 900 would descend into the sun.
AS these objects plowed their way through
the suns gases both light and heat would
be evolved.
It has been a part Of this theory that the
friction of the meteors which are continu
ously rushing into it's fiery embrace may
produce light and heat sufficient to aid in
the maintenance of>that body's ordinary ex-
penditure
TT HAS been supposed, according to the
/ earlier exponents Of this idea, that the
quantity of energy thus generated supplies
all that is wanted to explain the continued
maintenance of the suns light and heat.
Prof. Richard Proctor estimated that the
amount OF heat that flows from the sun
every minute is equivalent to the heat de-
veloped by the combustion Of COG 900, ,000,-
600 900, 900 tons of coal.
OF course. there must be allowances made
for errors Of calculation.
Particularly as it is now affirmed that
there is q possible error of 100, 900 900 miles
in the size Of the star Betelgeuse, the new
giant of the stellar universe.
A STRONOMERS all along have been
n puzzled to account for this continuous
supply of heat and light from our great CEN
The two theories, the meteoric and the
contracting, have always been the most
popular.
1t is supposed that by its own vast at
traction the sun IS gradually contracting in
bulk.
This condensation or squeezing together"
would produce heat the same as a falling
body.
But no such contraction has ever been
detected in the sun.
Of ~ nd oh
also advanced n theory of his own some |
years ago which is almost as difficult to
understand, If one isn't scientist, as is |
tho Einstein theory of relatively.
But here 1t Is as he formulated it,
'All the energy exerted by the phenomena |
which we call sun light and sun heat pri-
marily comes from the potential endowment |
of the initial elementary atoms
1t requires considerable explanation to |
define what the gentleman means by the |
above and the use of such terms as dy- |
manic force and static force, the physical |
structure of molecules, the saturation OF |
space, and what not.
Then, after all this. he sums 1t up thus:
"We thus reason that not n particle OF |
heat comes from the sun. Not particle OF
light comes from the sun. Nothing Is
thrown out from the sun.
"What we call sun heat and sun light are
phenomena produced by the dynamic force
which our earth draws from the sun as the
great potential storehouse.'
DUT whatever the cause or whoever is
ID right, Prof. See or Mr.. Reese. our at
tention to the prevalent heat is held not by
its persistence, but because of the drought
which, in the Eastern States, accom-
panied 1t.
We have had the "dryest' summer, in
more than one way, since about 1897.
That year witnessed the dryest weather
for many year before or since.
The drought affected the whole country.
1t was accompanied by water famine as
well.
But after all, we of the Eastern States,
and indeed of the entire country, do not
know what real hot weather Is as COM
narcd with that extreme in other lands
In Bengal the extreme heat has been $50 7
degrees. BOrgu, In the Sahara, takes the
Persia has had 125 Calcutta, 100; Cape
of Good Hope, 1O5 Greece, 100; Arabia,
IlO; and spain, Cuba, China and Jamaica
Wv o'oue n L. thankf,,l n is No u..,..