ON THE ORIGIN OF METEORITES.^ 



By Friedkich Bkrwekth. 



In the Imperial Court Museum of National History there is pre- 

 served what is literally a heavenly treasure. Its peculiar nature is 

 Avell known to the professionals of cultured nations, and to all in- 

 quiring friends of nature, while it is regarded by the great majority 

 of people more with the vague uncertainty with which one is usually 

 accustomed to present to strange, unusual things, I can assert with 

 some satisfaction that, thanks to the occasional court boards of ad- 

 ministration, to the intendants and to the former keepers of the collec- 

 tion, we have in this scientific treasure the largest and scientifically 

 the most valuable collection of meteorites, and the richest in number 

 of falls in the world. Because of this circumstance you will certainly 

 sympathize with me if I, as the present superintendent of this 

 precious collection, consider it my patriotic duty at your worthy 

 and honorable invitation to explain briefly one of the most interesting 

 chapters in the lore of meteorites. 



The knowledge of stones which have fallen from heaven extends 

 into the oldest history of humanity, back into prehistoric times. 

 Among the Chinese the mention of heaven stones goes back to 6,000 

 years, and the fact of falling stones has always been recognized by 

 the people of Asia Minor, by the Greeks and Romans, and we must 

 not be surprised if these " messengers of heaven " were generally re- 

 garded as divine gifts. But with the advance of Christianity an- 

 other opinion has become prevalent. The many meteoric divinities 

 do not conform to its teaching and the system of the Roman estab- 

 lished church. Gradually there was lost the oriental conception of 

 them as blessings, and people began to regard them rather as " prodi- 

 gies," or miraculous events, until through the whole Middle Ages and 

 modern times the falling of meteorites was considered the foreboding 

 of approaching misfortune, and the occurrence occasioned in human 

 beings only a feeling of fear, horror, and terror. 



1 Translation from the German of a lecture given in the Scientific Club of Vienna on the 

 26th of January, 1914. 



311 



