IRON AND CIVILIZATION. 339 



they must have entered the solar system at a very remote epoch. The 

 writer has elsewhere given reasons for regarding 28 years as nearly 

 the true meteoric period. 1 



In its descending node, the orbit of Halley's comet is but 3,000,000 

 miles from that of the earth. Our planet passes, this point of nearest 

 approach a little before the middle of May. Is it not probable that 

 some of the meteoric stones of May 8th to 14th a have been moving in 

 nearly the same cometary orbit ? 



It has been pointed out by Dr. Weiss that the height at which the 

 meteors of different rings appear and disappear depends, to some ex- 

 tent, on their respective velocities. The meteors of November 14th, 

 for instance, move much more rapidly than those of August 10th, and 

 are also observed at a greater altitude. Further observations of this 

 interesting cluster can scarcely be expected till near the close of the 

 present century. 







IKON AND CIVILIZATION. 3 



By ABEAM S. HEWITT, Esq. 



MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN : To me is assigned the 

 honor of bidding you welcome to the city of New York, on this, 

 the occasion of our first annual meeting, and I am sure that you will 

 find yourselves made welcome by all who have the honor and pros- 

 perity of the city at heart. For New York, although far from being the 

 cherished home of science and art, comprehends that its growth and 

 its future greatness depend upon the development of the natural re- 

 sources of the country of which it is the commercial metropolis ; and 

 it is sufficiently enlightened to understand the necessity of scientific 

 knowledge and trained experience for the attainment of the most use- 

 ful and profitable results from industrial enterprises. No body of men 

 can understand better than you that capital is essential to the develop- 

 ment of natural resources on the scale demanded by modern civiliza- 

 tion ; but capital does not always comprehend as fully that science and 

 experience are essential for the profitable use of money in the vast 

 industrial undertakings of our day, and hence result great waste of 

 resources and disastrous failures. A few considerations may serve 

 to shed some light on this subject, of such material consequence to 

 science and capital ; and, at the risk of overstepping the conventional 

 limits of a formal welcome, I venture briefly to suggest them as the 

 means of establishing a common ground of sympathy and fellowship 



1 Proceedings of American Philosophical Society, March 4, 18Y0. 



2 " Meteoric Astronomy," p. 72. 



* An address before the American Institute of Mining Engineers. 



