THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 173 



As to the Weston meteorite, it is stated that its direction was nearly 

 paraUel to the surface of the earth, at an elevation of ahout 18 miles ; 

 and was one mile further when it exploded. The lengtji of its path from 

 the time it was seen until it exploded was at least 107 miles ; duration 

 of flight estimated at ahout thirty seconds, and its relative velocity 

 three and a half miles a second. It exploded ; three heavy reports 

 were heard ; ihe meteorite disappeared at the time of the explosion. 



As to the value of the data upon which its size was estimated, the 

 same ohjection is urged as in the case of the Wilton meteorite ; and 

 it is hazarding nothing to state that the apparent size may have heen 

 due to an incandescent body a foot or two in diameter. Also, with 

 reference to its disappearance, there is the same inexplicable mystery. 

 It is supposed from its enormous size that hut minute fragments 

 of it fell ; yet it disappeared at the time that this took place, which 

 it is supposed occurred 19 miles above the earth ; (an estimate doubt- 

 less too great when we consider the heavy reports.) 



Accepting this elevation, what do we have? A body one mile and 

 a half in diameter in a state of incandescence, passing in a curve 

 almost parallel to the earth, 'and while in the very densest stratum of 

 air that it reaches, with a vigorous reaction between the atmosphere 

 and its surface, and a dense body of air in front of it, is totally 

 eclipsed ; while, if it had a direction only tangential to the earth, in- 

 stead of nearly parallel, it would at" the height of 19 miles have had 

 upwards of 500 miles of air of variable density to traverse, which at 

 the relative velocity of 3| miles a second (that must have been con- 

 stantly diminishing by the resistance) would have taken about 143 

 seconds. It seems most probable that if this body was such an 

 enormous one, it should have been seen for more than ten minutes 

 after the explosion, for the reasons above stated. The fact of its dis- 

 appearance at the time of the explosion, is strong proof that the mass 

 itself was broken to fragments, and that these fragments fell to the 

 earth ; assuring us that the meteorite was not the huge body repre- 

 sented, but simply one of those irregular stony fragments which, by 

 explosion from heat and great friction against the atmosphere, become 

 shattered. I say irregular, because we have strong evidence of this 

 irregularity in its motion, which was "scolloping," a motion fre- 

 quently observed in meteorites, and doubtless due to the resistance of 

 the atmosphere upon the irregular mass, for a spherical body passing 

 through a resisting medium at great velocity would not show this. 

 In fact, if almost any of the specimens of meteorites in our cabinets 

 were discharged from a cannon, even in their limited flight, the scol- 

 loping motion would be seen. 



This, then, will conclude what I have to say in contra.diction to the 

 supposition of large solid cosmical bodies passing through the atmo- 

 sphere, and dropping small portions of their mass. The contradiction 

 is seen to be based, first, upon the fact that no meteorite is known of any 

 very great size, none larger than the granite balls to be found at the 

 Dardanelles alongside of the pieces of ordnance from which they 

 are discharged ; secondly, on the fallacy of estimating the actual size 

 of these bodies from their apparent size ; and lastly, from its being op- 

 posed to all the laws of chance that these bodies should have been 



