A PALLING STAR. 203 



the end of the last century, largely by the labours of the 

 philosopher Chladni in 1794. But even his sagacity did 

 not prevent him from making some serious mistakes about 

 the nature of shooting stars. It has been reserved for the 

 present generation to organize a multitude of facts into a 

 connected whole, and thus contribute a very interesting 

 chapter to modern astronomy. 



Could an ordinary shooting star tell us its actual 

 history, the narrative would run somewhat as follows : 



" I was a small bit of material, chiefly, if not entirely, 

 composed of substances which are formed from the same 

 chemical elements as those you find on the earth. Not 

 improbably I may have had some iron in my constitution, 

 and also sodium and carbon, to mention only a few of the 

 most familiar elements. I only weighed an ounce or two, 

 perhaps more, perhaps less but you could probably have 

 held me in your closed hand, or put me into your waistcoat 

 pocket. You would have described me as a sort of small 

 stone, yet I think you would have added that I was very 

 unlike the ordinary stones with which you were familiar. 

 I have led a life of the most extraordinary activity ; I 

 have never known what it was to stay still ; I have been 

 ever on the move. Through the solitudes of space I have 

 dashed along with a speed which you can hardly conceive. 

 Compare my ordinary motion with your most rapid rail- 

 way trains, place me in London beside the Scotch express 

 to race to Edinburgh ; my journey will be done ere the 

 best locomotive ever built could have drawn the train out 

 of the station. Pit me against your rifle bullets, against 

 the shots from your one hundred-ton guns ; before the 

 missile from the mightiest piece of ordnance ever fired 



