THE GREAT BOMBARDMENT. 509 



fell down before it, deeming it a messenger from the gods. Diana 

 of Ephesus and the famous Cyprian Venus were, in all probability, 

 meteoric stones which were seen to fall, and were worshiped for the 

 same reason as above. Livy describes a shower of meteorites which 

 fell about the Alban Mount 652 b. c. The senate was demoralized, 

 and certain prophets announced it a warning from heaven, so im- 

 pressing the lawmakers that they declared a nine-days' festival with 

 which to propitiate the gods. The visitor to Mecca will find en- 

 shrined in a place of honor a meteorite which can be traced back be- 

 yond 600 a. d., and which is worshiped by pilgrims. The Tartars 

 pointed out a meteorite to Pallas, in 1772, which had fallen at 

 Krasnojarsk, and which they considered a holy messenger from 

 heaven. A large body of meteoric iron found in Wichita County, 

 Texas, was regarded by the Indians as a fetich. They told strangers 

 that it came from the sky as a messenger from the Great Spirit. 

 This meteorite was stationed at a point where two Indian trails met, 

 and was observed and worshiped as a shrine. 



The Chinese have records of meteors which fell 644 b. c. The 

 oldest authentic fall in which the stone is preserved is that of 

 Ensisheim, Elsass, Germany, in 1492. The stone, which weighed 

 two hundred and sixty pounds, fell with a loud roar, much to the 

 dismay of the peasantry, penetrating the ground to a depth of five 

 feet. It was secured by King Maximilian, who, after presenting the 

 Duke Sigismund with a section, hung the remainder in the parish 

 church as a holy relic, where, it is said, it may still be seen. 



Meteorites vary in size from minute objects not larger than a pea 

 to masses of iron of enormous size. The Chupaderos meteorite, which 

 fell in Chihuahua, Mexico, weighs twenty-five tons. Another, which 

 fell in Kansas, broke into myriads of pieces, the sections found 

 weighing thirteen hundred pounds. A meteorite in the Vienna 

 Museum, which fell in Hungary, weighs six hundred and forty-seven 

 pounds, while the Cranbourne meteorite in the British Museum 

 weighs four tons. The Red River meteorite in the Yale Museum 

 weighs sixteen hundred and thirty pounds. The largest meteorite 

 known was discovered within the Arctic Circle by Lieutenant Peary. 

 The Eskimos had known of it for generations as a source of supply 

 for iron. It was found by Lieutenant Peary in May, 1894, but, 

 owing to its enormous weight, could not be removed until the sum- 

 mer of 1897, when, after much labor, it was excavated and hoisted 

 into the hold of the steam whaling bark Hope and carried to New 

 York, where it has found a resting place in the cabinet of the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History. It is believed to weigh one hun- 

 dred tons. 



Up to 1772 the stories of bodies falling from space were not 



