FORMA riON OF METEORITES 



389 



to the central penetration of a concentrated solid body through 

 a gaseous mass. 



It is as impossible as it is unnecessary to consider here the 

 infinite variety of sub-cases which the hypothesis under consid- 



FiG. 3. — -Diagram illustrating the same phenomena as Fig. 2, save that the peri- 

 astron distance is so small that the bodies collide by a shearing stroke. 



eration involves, but it seems advisable to note that the case of 

 equal suns with equal velocities, which has been used in illus- 

 tration, is not the most prevalent case; for inequality of mass 

 and momentum is quite certainly the rule, rather than equality 

 or sub-equality. Where one of the suns is much smaller than 

 the other, the dispersive influence will be most largely felt by it. 



