  Meteors Mr. Denning thinks that the meteor shower of the month of May, known as the Aquarids, is probably connected with Halley’s comet. The meteors should be looked for after 1 a.m. during the first week in May, and may possibly show an enhanced display in May, 1910, when Halley’s comet will be near the sun and earth.[231] On November 29, 1905, Sir David Gill observed a fireball with an apparent diameter equal to that of the moon, which remained visible for 5 minutes and disappeared in a hazy sky. Observed from another place, Mr. Fuller found that the meteor was visible 2 hours later! Sir David Gill stated that he does not know of any similar phenomenon.[232] Mr. Denning finds that swiftly moving meteors become visible at a greater height above the earth’s surface than the slower ones. Thus, for the Leonids and Perseids, which are both swift, During the night of July 21-22, 1896, Mr. William Brooks, the well-known astronomer, and director of the Smith Observatory at Geneva (New York), saw a round dark body pass slowly across the moon’s bright disc, the moon being nearly full at the time. The apparent diameter of the object was about one minute of arc, and the duration of the transit 3 or 4 seconds, the direction of motion being from east to west. On August 22 of the same year, Mr. Gathman (an American observer) saw a meteor crossing the sun’s disc, the transit lasting about 8 seconds.[234] A meteor which appeared in Italy on July 7, 1892, was shown by Prof. von Niessl to have had an ascending path towards the latter end of its course! The length of its path was computed to be 683 miles. When first seen, its height above the earth was about 42 miles, and when it disappeared its height had increased to about 98 miles, showing that its motion was directed upwards![235] The largest meteoric stone preserved in a museum is that known as the Anighita, which weighs 36½ tons, and was found at Cape York in Greenland. It was brought to the American Museum of Natural History by Commander R. E. Peary, the Arctic explorer. The second largest known is that of Bacubirito in Mexico, the weight of which is estimated at 27½ tons. The third largest is that known as the Williamette, which was found in 1902 near the town of that name in Western Oregon (U.S.A.). It is composed of metallic nickel-iron, and weighs about 13½ tons. It is now in the American Museum of Natural History. A large meteorite was actually seen, from the deck of the steamer African Prince, to fall into the Atlantic Ocean, on October 7, 1906! The captain In Central Arizona (U.S.A.) there is a hill called Coon Butte, or Coon Mountain. This so-called “mountain” rises to a height of only 130 to 160 feet above the surrounding plain, and has on its top a crater of 530 to 560 feet deep; the bottom of the crater—which is dry—being thus 400 feet below the level of the surrounding country. This so-called “crater” is almost circular and nearly three-quarters of a mile in diameter. It has been suggested that this “crater” was formed by the fall of an enormous iron meteorite, or small asteroid. The “crater” has been carefully examined by a geologist and a physicist. From the evidence and facts found, the geologist (Mr. Barringer) states that “they do not leave, in my mind, a scintilla of doubt that this mountain and its crater were produced by the impact The meteoric origin of this remarkable “crater” is strongly favoured by Mr. G. P. Merrill, Head Curator of Geology, U.S. National Museum. The Canyon Diabolo meteorite above referred to was found to contain diamonds! some black, others transparent. So some have said that “the In the year 1882 it was stated by Dr. Halm and Dr. Weinhand that they had found fossil sponges, corals, and crinoids in meteoric stones! Dr. Weinhand thought he had actually determined three genera![240] But this startling result was flatly contradicted by Carl Vogt, who stated that the supposed fossils are merely crystalline conformations.[241] Some meteorites contain a large quantity of occluded gases, hydrogen, helium, and carbon oxides. It is stated that Dr. Odling once “lighted up the theatre of the Royal Institution with gas brought down from interstellar space by meteorites”![242] On February 10, 1896, a large meteorite burst over Madrid with a loud report. The concussion was so great that many windows in the city were broken, and some partitions in houses were shaken down![243] It was decided some years ago “in the American Supreme Court that a meteorite, though a stone fallen from heaven, belongs to the owner of the freehold interest in the land on which it falls, and not to the tenant.”[245] With reference to the fall of meteoric matter on the earth, Mr. Proctor says, “It is calculated by Dr. Kleiber of St. Petersburgh that 4250 lbs. of meteoric dust fall on the earth every hour—that is, 59 tons a day, and more than 11,435 tons a year. I believe this to be considerably short of the truth. It sounds like a large annual growth, and the downfall of such an enormous mass of meteoric matter seems suggestive of some degree of danger. But in reality, Dr. Kleiber’s estimate gives only about 25 millions of pounds annually, which is less than 2 ounces annually to each square mile of the earth’s surface,”[246] a quantity which is, of course, quite insignificant. It is a curious fact that, according to Olbers, “no fossil meteoric stones” have ever been discovered.[249] Considering the number which are supposed to have fallen to the earth in the course of ages, this fact seems a remarkable one. On May 10, 1879, a shower of meteorites fell at Eitherville, Iowa (U.S.A.). Some of the fragments found weighed 437, 170, 92½, 28, 10½, 4 and 2 lbs. in weight. In the following year (1880) when the prairie grass had been consumed by a fire, about “5000 pieces were found from the size of a pin to a pound in weight.”[250] According to Prof. Silvestria of Catania, a shower of meteoric dust mixed with rain fell on the night of March 29, 1880. The dust contained a large proportion of iron in the metallic state. In size the particles varied from a tenth to a hundredth of a millimetre.[251] It is sometimes stated that the average mass of a “shooting star” is only a few grains. But from In the Book of Joshua we are told “that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died” (Joshua x. 11). In the latter portion of the verse “hailstones” are mentioned, but as the original Hebrew word means stones in general (not hailstones), it seems very probable that the stones referred to were aËrolites.[253] The stone mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, from which was found “the image which fell down from Jupiter” (Acts xix. 35), was evidently a meteoric stone.[253] The famous stone in the Caaba at Mecca, is probably a stone of meteoric origin.[253] I |
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