August 30, 1888] 



NATURE 



425 



and was transferred to Rome, as an oracle had announced that 

 the possession of it would secure continual prosperity to the 

 State. 1 



In more modern times we have records of various falls of these 

 bodies. The following — a few out of a very great number- — either 

 possess a national interest or are the statements of eye-witnesses. 

 In England there fell a stone in the afternoon of Decenber 

 l 3> J 795- A labourer happened to be working near Wold 

 Cottage, Thwing, Yorkshire, when this stone fell within a few 

 yards of him. On digging the stone out of the ground it was 

 found to have penetrated a foot of soil and half a foot of chalk rock, 

 and to weigh 56 pounds. The inhabitants of the neighbouring 

 villages likened the explosion to the firing of guns at sea, while 

 in two of them the sounds were so distinct of something rushing 

 through the air towards Wold Cottage that some of the people 

 went to see if anything extraordinary had happened. 



The next account is from Ireland. It is the narrative of an 

 eye-witness of a fall of meteorites in the county of Limerick. 



''Friday morning, the 10th of September, 1813, being very 

 calm and serene, and the sky clear, about 9 o'clock, a cloud appeared 

 in the east, and very soon after I heard eleven distinct reports 

 appearing to proceed thence, somewhat resembling the discharge 

 of heavy artillery. Immediately after this followed a considerable 

 noise not unlike the beating of a large drum, which was suc- 

 ceeded by an uproar resembling the continued discharge of 

 musketry in line. The sky above the place whence this noise 

 appeared to issue became darkened and very much disturbed, 

 making a hissing noise, a id from thence appeared to issue with 

 great violence different masses of matter, which directed their 

 course with great velocity in a horizontal direction towards the 

 west. One of these was observed to descend ; it fell to the 

 earth, and sank into it more than a foot and a half, on the lands 

 of Scagh, in the neighbourhood of Patrick's Well, in the county 

 of Limerick. It was immediately dug up, and I have been 

 informed by those that were present, and on whom I could rely, 

 that it was then warm and had a sulphurous smell. It weighed 

 about 17 pounds, and had no appearance of having been fractured 

 in any part, for the whole of its surface was uniformly smooth and 

 black, as if affected by sulphur or gunpowder. Six or seven 

 more of the same kind of masses, but smaller, and fractured, as if 

 shattered from each other or from larger ones, descended at the 

 same time with great velocity in different places between the 

 lands of Scagh and the village of Adare. One more very large 

 mass passed with great rapidity and considerable noise at a small 

 distance from me ; it came to the ground on the lands of Brasky, 

 and penetrated a very hard and dry earth about 2 feet. This 

 was not taken up for two days ; it appeared to be fractured in 

 many places, and weighed about 65 pounds ! Its shape was rather 

 round, but irregular. It cannot be ascertained whether the 

 small fragments which came down at the same time corresponded 

 with the fractures of this large stone in shape or number, but the 

 unfractured part of the surface has the same appearance as the 

 one first mentioned. There fell also at the same time, or. the 

 lands of Faha, another stone, which does not appear to have 

 been part of or separated from any other mass ; its skin is 

 smooth and blackish, of the same appearance with the first men- 

 tioned ; it weighed ab at 74 pounds ; its shape was very irregular, 



for its volume was very heavy It was about three 



miles in a direct line from the lands of Brasky, where the very 

 large stone descended, to the place where the small ones fell in 

 Adare, and all the others fell intermediately ; but they appeared 

 to descend horizontally, and as if discharged from a bomb and 

 scattered in the air." • 



The fall of the meteorite of 1885, near Mazapil, in Mexico, 

 was thus described by an eye-witness vouched for by Prof. 

 Bonilla: — 3 



"It was about nine in the evening when I went to the corral 

 to feed certain horses, when suddenly I heard a loud hissing 

 noise, exactly as though something red hot was being plunged 

 into cold water, and almost instantly there followed a somewhat 

 loud thud. At once the corral was covered with a phos- 

 phorescent light and suspended in the air were small luminous 

 sparks as though from a rocket. I had not recovered from my 

 surprise when I saw this luminous air disappear, and there re- 

 mained on the ground only such a light as is made when a match 

 is rubbed. A number of people from the neighbouring houses 



See British Museum Introduct'on to the Study of Meteorites, p. 17. 

 Quoted by Ma Icelyne, "Lecture Notts 0.1 Meuoritts," Natuke, 1-75, 

 vol x.i. p. 485. 



3 Natuke, vol. xxxv. p. 572. 



came running toward me, and they assisted me to quiet the horses, 

 which had become very much excited. We all asked each other 

 what could be the matter, and we were afraid to walk in the 

 corral for fear of getting burned. When, in a few moments, we 

 had recovered from our surprise, we saw the phosphorescent \[>ht 

 disappear, little by little, and when we had brought lights to look 

 for the cause, we found a hole in the ground and in it a ball of 

 fire. We retired to a distance, fearing it would explode and 

 harm us. Looking up to the sky we saw from time to time 

 exhalations or stars, ' which soon went out, but without noise. We 

 returned after a little, and found in the hole a hot stone, which 

 we could barely handle, which on the next day we saw looked 

 like a piece of iron ; all night it rained stars, but we saw none 

 fall to the ground, as they seemed to be extinguished while still 

 very high up." 



The next record of the phenomena attending a fall in the 

 United States (though the observer quoted did n jt actually see 

 the fall) is taken from a lecture by Prof. Newton : — 2 



" ' The observers,' he says, ' who stood near to the line of the 

 meteor's flight, were quite overcome «ith fear, as it seemed to 

 come down upon them with a rapid increase of size and brilliancy, 

 many of them wishing for a place of safety, but not having the 

 time to seek one. In this fright the ani rials tojk a part, horses 

 shying, rearing, and plunging to get away, and dogs retreating 

 and barking with signs of fear. The meteor gave out several 

 marked flashes in its course, one more noticeable than the rest. 

 . . . Thin clouds of smoke and vapour followed in the track of 

 the meteor. . . . From one and a half to two minutes after the 

 dazzling, terrifying, and swiftly moving mass of light had ex- 

 tinguished itself in live sharp flashes, five quickly recurring 

 reports were heard. The volume of sound was so great that the 

 reverberations seemed to shake the earth to its foundations ; 

 buildings quaked and rattltd, and the furniture that they con- 

 tained jarred about as if shaken by an earthquake ; in fact, many 

 believed that an earthquake wa< in progress. Quickly succeed- 

 ing, and blended with the explosions, came hollow bellowings 

 and rattling sounds, mingled with clang, and clash, and roar, that 

 rolled away southward, as if a tornado of fearful power was 

 retreating upon the meteor's path.' 



" About 800 pounds of stones, nearly 200 in number, have been 

 picked up in a region seven miles by four, a little east of the end 

 of the meteor's path, which without any doubt came from the 

 meteor. Some were picked up on the surface of the frozen ground. 

 One was found on the top of a snow-bank, and about 40 feet 

 away were marks of a place where it had first struck the ground. 

 Some were ploughed up in the spring. The two largest found, 

 of 74 pounds and 48 pounds, fell by the roadside, and a law- 

 suit-, to "settle whether they were the property of the finder as 

 being wild game, or of the owner of the lands adjacent as 

 being real estate, was decided in favour of the owner of the 

 land." 



In some cases of observed falls the rate of movement of the 

 meteorite through the air has been determined, or concomitant 

 circumstances have enabled it to be roughly estimated. 



The velocities have been widely different. Before they are 

 stated, s me terms of comparison may be given : — 



Railway trains 



Flight of swallow 



Projectiles 



Sound 



■* ) Movement \ 



Venus 

 Karth 

 Mars 



Orbit 



The highest velocity of flight through the air has been that of 

 the Stannern meteorites, 45 miles a second. The lower part of 

 the flight of the Iowa meteorite was performed at 12 miles a 

 second. 



In only a few cases have the velocities been observed to be 

 very great at the earth's surface, the retarding effect of the 

 passage through the atmosphere being considerable. Some have 

 buried themselves deeply in the ground, and one (New Concord) 

 broke a railway-sleeper. Several meteorites have fallen so 

 rapidly that the sound of the explosion fotlcnved them. But 

 generally the rate is so slow that they are not broken on striking 



1 The meteor fell during a star-shower. 

 * Nature, vol. xix. p. 315. 



