346 



THE MUSEUM. 



The La Bella Roca Meteorite, front and side view. 



Those that fall during the day appear 

 to come from a dark cloud, and are 

 accompanied by a loud noise as of 

 distant thunder. Some writers assert 

 that if the same Meteors were seen by 

 night the dark cloud would appear 

 luminous. It was not until recent 

 times that they were treated with any 

 credulity, but were classed with the 

 many things that we did not under- 

 stand, but took for granted just as 

 they are. One peculiar feature con- 

 nected with Shooting Stones is that 

 certain appearances of them are peri- 

 odic. On most occasions they appear 

 singly, and traverse the sky in all di- 

 rections. At other times they have 

 been known to appear in swarms of 

 thousands, moving parallel. 



Attention was first directed to this 

 fact on occasion of the prodigous 

 swarm which appeared in North Amer- 

 ica about the 12th or 13th of Novem- 

 ber, 1883, described by Prof. Olmsted, 

 of Yale College. The stars fell on this 

 occasion like flakes of snow to the 

 number, as was estimated, of 240,000, 



in the space of nine hours, and vary- 

 ing in size from a moving point or 

 phosphorescent line, to globes of the 

 moon's diameter. It was a queer fact 

 that they all appeared to proceed from 

 the same quarter of the heavens. 



To come down to more recent times 

 we have figured four Meteorites in this 

 number of the Museum, one of which 

 we show a polished section. The 

 specimens figured are all from the col- 

 elction of Prof. H. A. Ward, of Roch- 

 ester, N. Y. , where they may be seen 

 at any time. TJic La Bella Roca Me- 

 teor was found on the peak of the 

 Sierra de San Francisco, in the state 

 of Durango, Mex., in 1888. The two 

 greatest dimensions of the mass were 

 25x35 centimeters. An idea of the 

 general shape and appearance of the 

 mass may be obtained from the cut 

 which shows what is supposed to be 

 the front and back of the Meteorite, 

 at least during the latter part of its 

 flight. One of its prominent features 

 is the presence of large, deep pittings 

 on one side. These are a little great- 



