Dec. 5, 1889] 



NATURE 



109 



length of it is said to have been only about fourteen 

 miles. 



It is very probable, though not conclusively proved, 

 that large meteoritic showers of stones, like those of 

 Pultusk and L'Aigle, reach the terrestrial atmosphere as 

 swarms of isolated bodies ; still, we must have regard to 

 the fact that a mass is much fractured during its passage 

 through the air by reason of the enormous pressure and 

 the violent change of temperature. In the case of the 

 Butsura fall, for example, it was conclusively established 

 that stones picked up some miles apart must originally 

 have formed part of a stone disrupted during the atmo- 

 spheric flight. 



It is a question of a certain amount of interest as to 

 whether there is any evidence of the actual fall of a 

 shower of meteorites over a large extent of the earth's 

 surface. 



Such evidence has long been supposed to be furnished 

 by the plentiful occurrence of meteorites in the Desert of 

 Atacama, a term applied to that part of Western South 

 America which lies between the towns of Copiapo and 

 Cobija, about 330 miles distant from each other, and 

 which extends mland as far as the Indian hamlet of 

 Antofagasta, about 180 miles from the coast. 



The generally received impression as to the occurrence 

 of meteorites in this desert is well illustrated by the fol- 

 lowing statement of M. Darlu, of Valparaiso, read to the 

 French Academy of Sciences in 1845 : — 



" For the last two years I have made observations of 

 shooting-stars during the nights of November ii-Novem- 

 ber 1 5, without remarking a greater number than at other 

 times. I was led to make these observations by the fact 

 that in the Desert of Atacama, which begins at Copiapo, 

 meteorites are met with at every step. I have heard, 

 also, from one who is worthy of trust, that in the Argen- 

 tine Republic, near Santiago del Estero, there is — so to 

 say — a forest of enormous meteorites, the iron of which 

 is employed by the inhabitants." 



A study of the literature indicates that "the forest 

 of enormous meteorites" near Santiago del Estero, 

 understood by Darlu as significative of infinity of 

 number, is really a free translation of a native state- 

 ment " that there were several masses having the shape 

 of huge trunks with deep roots," and that not more 

 than four, or perhaps five, masses had really been seen 

 in the Santiago locality at the time of Darlu's state- 

 ment. There is a similar misunderstanding relative to 

 the Atacama masses : it is clearly proved that, at a date 

 long subsequent to 1845, the Desert was virtually un- 

 trodden and unexplored. In Darlu's time it was only 

 crossed along definite tracks by Indians travelling be- 

 tween San Pedro de Atacama and Copiapo, and between 

 the inland Antofagasta and the coast. In fact, it is esta- 

 blished that the only Atacama meteorites then in circula- 

 tion were all got from a single small area, three or four 

 leagues in length, in the neighbourhood of Imilac, one of 

 the few watering-places on the track between San Pedro 

 and Copiapo. 



Since that time the discovery of rich silver-mines in 

 the centre of the Desert, and the working of the nitrate 

 deposits, have led to vast changes ; the Desert has been 

 more or less closely examined, and other meteoritic masses 

 have been found. Still, the number of meteorites yet 

 discovered, distinct either in mineralogical characters or 

 locality, is shown to be, at most, thirteen. 



One of them, Lutschaunig, is distinct from all the rest 

 as being a chondritic stone ; a second, Vaca Muerta, 

 likewise differs from all the others in that it consists of 

 nickel-iron and stony matter, both in large proportion ; 

 a third, Imilac, is a nickel-iron with cavities, like those 

 of a sponge, filled with olivine ; a fourth, Copiapo, is a 

 nickel-iron with irregularly disposed angular inclosures 

 of troilite and stony matter ; the remaining nine consist 

 of nickel-iron, virtually free from silicates, some of them 



showing no Widmanstatten figures when etched, others 

 showing excellent figures more or less differing in 

 character. 



Now, in every meteoritic shower yet observed, the 

 individuals which have fallen simultaneously have been 

 found to belong to a common type. Hence, it is reason- 

 ably certain that several distinct meteors are represented 

 in the Desert, and that the above masses are the result 

 of several falls ; and this being accepted, the assertion of 

 simultaneity of fall of two or more masses on the purely 

 geographical ground that they have been found in the 

 same Desert, can be allowed no great weight. 



But have masses belonging to any one of the above 

 types been found scattered over a part of the Desert so 

 extensive as to indicate a meteoritic fall more widely 

 spread than any of those actually observed ? A critical 

 examination of the cases in which such an enormous 

 spread has been asserted proves that the evidence is 

 quite unsatisfactory. The results may thus be sum- 

 marized .- — 



(i) Lutschaunig. — This was a single stone. 



(2) Vaca Muerta. — The masses were in great abundance 

 distributed over a small area. But fragments undoubtedly 

 belonging to this type have been brought from two other 

 places far distant from the main locality. Very cogent 

 evidence is brought forward to prove that the said frag- 

 ments must have been carried to those places — the 

 Jarquera Valley and Mejillones — from Vaca Muerta 

 itself. 



(3) Imilac. — An examination of all the known literature 

 indicates that the whole of the fragments belonging to 

 this type have been got from the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Imilac. Caracoles, Potosi, and Campo de 

 Pucard, from which specimens, belonging to this type, 

 have been brought, are shown to be on regular lines of 

 traffic starting from the Atacama coast. It is further 

 shown that Imilac specimens were in great request, and 

 were certainly carried to very distant places along such 

 lines of traffic. 



(4) Copiapo. — It is conclusively proved that the two 

 localities, upwards of 400 miles apart, for meteoritic 

 masses belonging to this type, '•esult from a mere inter- 

 change of labels, and that all the masses probably came 

 from a single place. 



(5-13) There is no satisfactory evidence furnished by 

 similarity of type for any of the meteoric irons being part 

 of a widespread shower. 



It is thus clear that the meteorites of the Desert of 

 Atacama afford absolutely no proof that enormous 

 meteoritic showers have ever reached the earth's surface. 



The general dryness of the air of the Desert, and the 

 rarity of rain, have been sufficient to ensure the preserva- 

 tion of masses which have fallen in the course of many 

 centuries unto a time when an exploration of a large 

 extent of the Desert has taken place. 



That the meteoritic masses are far from being so 

 plentiful as has been imagined is conclusively proved by 

 the experience of Mr. George Hicks, one of the earliest 

 explorers of the 23rd and 24th parallels ; although much 

 interested in their occurrence, he never found a mass 

 himself, and he only obtained his first specimen after 

 years of persevering inquiry from the Indians. 



Detailed information relative to the Atacama meteorites, 

 with a description and map of the Desert, will be found 

 in the recently published number of the Mineralogical 

 Magazine. L. F. 



EARLY EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION. 



A LTHOUGH the paintings in the tombs of Memphis, 

 -^*- of Beni Hasan, and of Thebes, have preserved to 

 us the knowledge of much of the civilization of Egypt, yet 

 hitherto we have handled but few examples of the im- 



