HANDBOOK OF THE COLLECTION. 



(In the following pages the figures in full-faced type refer to those on the specimen labels of 

 the collection. From these, therefore, reference may be made to individual specimens of the col- 

 lection, for the purpose of verifying or exemplifying the statements of the text.) 



Meteorites are stony or metallic bodies of extra-terrestrial origin 

 which fall to the earth from space. 



They may fall at any time of the day or of the year and on any 

 part of the earth's surface. Their fall is usually accompanied by 

 luminous phenomena, such as the appearance of a ball of fire, showers 

 of sparks and clouds of smoke and by sounds like those of cannonad- 

 ing, of thunder, or of bellowings and rattlings. 



Observation of such falls is only occasional, since the larger 

 number of meteorites fall into the sea or upon uninhabited regions. 

 Daubree calculates that the fall of a meteorite upon some portion 

 of the earth's surface is a phenomenon of daily occurrence, yet the 

 record of observed falls for the past century shows an average of only 

 two and a half a year. 



It is known, however, that such bodies have fallen to the earth 

 since the very earliest periods of human history, because some of the 

 most ancient records known to exist, refer to such phenomena. 



Being regarded by ancient man and by barbarous tribes as of 

 miraculous origin, they were often carefully preserved, enshrined 

 and worshiped as gods, and thus a knowledge of their existence has 

 come down to us. 



Thus a stone which fell in Phrygia at a very early period was 

 long worshiped as Cybele, "the mother of the gods" and about 204 

 B. C. was removed with great ceremony to Rome. It was described 

 as "a black stone in the figure of a cone, circular below and ending 

 in an apex above, " so that it is very probable that it was a meteorite. 



The Roman historian Livy tells of a shower of stones which took 

 place on the Alban Mount about 652 B. C, by which the senate was 

 so impressed that it held a solemn festival of nine days in honor 

 of the event. 



The famous Diana of the Ephesians and Venus of Cyprus were 

 probably meteoric stones which were worshiped as gods. 



