ASTEOXOMY AND METEOROLOGY. 377 



in a luminous state, while those situated where they fall do not ob- 

 serve this luminosity. 



The proofs upon which these conclusions are founded Professor 

 Smith promises to lay before the public at some future period. 



Interesting Indian Meteorite. On the 14th of July, a meteorite, 

 accompanied by flame and violent explosions, fell at Dhurmsalla, 

 India. The most curious fact connected with this meteorite is, that 

 the pieces which were picked up immediately after they fell were so 

 cold as to benumb the fingers. This is the more remarkable since the 

 surface of the meteorite bears marks of having been, a few moments 

 before falling, in a state of fusion. Dr. C. T. Jackson, in presenting 

 a portion of the meteorite to the Boston Society of Natural History, 

 remarks upon the above facts as follows : The temperature of the 

 day was 80 ; therefore the cold noticed could not have been the 

 effect of any immediate terrestrial influence. Was it not, then, 

 owing to the low temperature of the region from which the meteorite 

 fell ? the interplanetary spaces, according to Baron Fourier's esti- 

 mate, being about 50 Centigrade, or nearly 100 Fah., below 

 freezing. 



Allowing that the meteoric mass came from those regions, the mat- 

 ter being a very slow conductor of heat, we can easily conceive that 

 when the mass entered the earth's atmosphere, it might become 

 heated and inflamed on the surface by condensing the air before it, in 

 its descent toward the earth ; and, since it would have to fall through 

 about eighty miles of the atmosphere, the density of which increases 

 as it approaches the earth, the inflammation would take place only 

 where the air had sufficient density, and not in the highest regions. 

 Such being the case, the expansion of the exterior of the meteorite, 

 the surface being incandescent, while the interior was very cold, 

 would cause the mass to fly to pieces with violent detonations, and 

 this, too, quite near to the earth. 



The surface of so imperfect a conductor of heat might be ignited, 

 while the interior of the mass remained intensely cold. Therefore 

 there is no inherent improbability that masses of meteoric stone really 

 would produce the sensation of intense cold, if they were originally 

 cold in the interior, and only rapidly heated on the surface. If the 

 facts are as alleged, this is the first recorded recognition by the hu- 

 man senses of the cold of the interplanetary regions. 



The meteorites in question so closely resemble the stones which fell, 

 many years since, at Weston, Conn., that they can hardly be dis- 

 tinguished from them. 



The Great Meteor of July 20th, I860. Mr. Bond, the Director 

 of the Cambridge (Mass.) Observatory, having collected a great num- 

 ber of observations on the great meteor of July 20th, 1860, from all 

 parts of the country included between the north-western lakes and 

 the seaboard, and as far south as Virginia, has come to the conclu- 

 sion that " this meteor did not belong originally to our system, but 

 must have come to us from the region of the fixed stars, and, after 

 barely grazing the outer limits of our atmosphere, probably passed 

 out of the attractive influence both of the earth and of the sun, with 

 its course considerably changed from its original direction, and with 

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