26 THE MICROSCOPE. 



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THE METEORITE. 



BY J. F. TROWBRIDGE. 



[The discovery, by Dr. Hahn, an eminent German geologist, of 

 organic remains in meteoric stones, is one of the most astonishing 

 achievements in modern science. By examining a great number of 

 meteorites, he claims to have determined about fifty species of 

 corals, crinoids and sponges, bearing a close relation to similar 

 classes of fossil forms on our earth. The inference from which 

 seems conclusive, that these stones aro really fragments of a dis- 

 membered globe.] 



From the ruins of what world. 

 From what splintered planet hurled, 

 Hast thou journeyed to our own, 

 Thou mysterious alien stone? 



By what orb's conflicting course, 

 By what mighty cosmic force 

 Far transcending finite thought, 

 Was the awful havoc wrought? 



Of that ruin, of that wreck, 



Indistinguishable speck. 



Lost in unillumined space, 



Where light, passing, leaves no trace, — 



Where through the darkness shines the sun. 



Bearing warmth, but yielding none, 



Where there is no day nor night, 



Up nor down, nor depth nor height, — 



Ages upon ages lost. 

 Till thy path our orbit crossed. 

 In thy wanderings thou has known 

 Solitude, thou lonely stone! 



Smitten into sudden glare 

 By our planet's shield of air. 

 Thy cold, rayless clod became 

 A fierce meteor, trailing flame. 



