508 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



as the terrific beat ignites the iron, announces its entrance into our 

 atmosphere. It may be red, yellow, white, green, or blue, all these 

 hues having been observed. Then follows the explosion, caused by 

 the contact with the air piled up ahead, and in certain instances a 

 loud detonation or a series of noises is heard, which may be repeated 

 indefinitely until the meteoric mass is completely destroyed, and 

 drops, a shower of disintegrated particles, which fall rattling to the 

 ground. 



The blaze of light does not continue to the earth, nor does the 

 meteor, should it survive, strike the ground with the velocity with 

 which it entered the atmosphere, as the latter often arrests its motion 

 so completely that it drops upon the earth by its own weight, well 

 illustrated by the meteorites of the Hesslefall, which dropped upon 

 ice but a few inches thick, rebounding as they fell. Thus the atmos- 

 phere protects the inhabitants of the globe from a terrific bombard- 

 ment by destroying many of the largest meteorites, reducing the size 

 of others before they reach the surface and arresting the velocity so 

 that few bury themselves deeply in the soil. 



The writer observed a remarkable meteor in 1894. It entered 

 our atmosphere, apparently, over the Mojave Desert, in California, 

 and exploded over the San Gabriel Valley, though without any ap- 

 preciable sound, and after the first flash disappeared, leaving in the 

 air a large balloon-shaped object of yellow light which lasted some 

 moments, presenting a remarkable spectacle. In this instance the 

 meteor had probably exploded or been consumed, leaving only the 

 light to tell the story, the atmospheric armor of the earth having 

 successfully warded off the blow. 



Viewing the facts as they exist, the earth, a seeming fugitive mass 

 flying through space, vainly endeavoring to break the bonds which 

 bind it to the sun, hunted, bombarded with strange missiles hurled 

 from unseen hands or forces from the infinity of space, it is little 

 wonder that the ancients and some savage races of later times in- 

 vested the phenomena with strange meanings. It requires but little 

 imagination to see in the flying earth a living monster followed by 

 shadowy furies which hurl themselves upon it, now vainly attempt- 

 ing to reach the air-protected body or again striking it with terrific 

 force, lodging deep in its sides amid loud reverberation and dazzling 

 blaze of light. 



Meteorites have been known from the very earliest times, and 

 have often been regarded as miraculous creatures to be worshiped 

 and handed down from family to family. The famous meteorite 

 which fell in Phrygia, centuries ago, was worshiped as Cybele, " the 

 mother of the gods," and about the year 204 b. c. was carried to 

 Rome with much display and ceremony, when people of all classes 



