434 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 360 



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 mete- 

 orites 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 inland as far as the Indian hamlet of Antofagasta, about 

 180 miles from the coast. 



The generally received impression as .to the occurrence of mete- 

 orites in this desert is well illustrated by the following 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 durmg the nights of Nov. 11-15, 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 Copia- 

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

 one who is worthy of trust, that in the Argentine Republic, near 

 Santiago del Estero, there is, so to say, a forest of enormous mete- 

 orites, 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 statement " 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 statement. There is a similar misunder- 

 standing relative to the Atacama'masses : it is clearly proved, that, 

 at a date long subsequent to 1845, the desert was virtually untrod- 

 den and unexplored. In Darlu's time it was -only crossed along 

 definite tracks by Indians travelling between San Pedro de Ata- 

 cama and Copiapo, and between the inland Antofagasta and the 

 coast. In fact, it is established that the only Atacama meteorites 

 then in circulation were all got from a single small area, three or 

 four leagues in length, in the neighborhood 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 charac- 

 ters 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 enclosures of troilite 

 and stony matter ; the remaining nine consist of nickel-iron, virtu- 

 ally 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 reasonably 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 asser- 

 tion 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. 



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 insure the preservation 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 23d 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. 



THE PULSION TELEPHONE. 



A CURIOUS scene was enacted recently at a place called Child's 

 Hill, on the Midland Railway, near London, England. What took 

 place there, as vouched for by Engineering, was as follows. A 

 party of gentlemen alighted from the train and ascended the em- 

 bankment. Here one of them reached up to a wire stretched along 

 the telegraph poles, and, placing the crown of his hat flat against it, 

 he commenced a conversation with some unseen correspondent. 

 The answers to his questions and remarks came back quite audibly 

 to the group gathered around him, while those who felt sceptical 

 as to the reality of what was being enacted before them, removed 

 to a distance, and, pressing the wire against their ears and cheek- 

 bones, heard the return messages for themselves. After some 

 desultory conversation, the unknown speaker was asked to give a 

 good shout, and in reply he jodelled with such vigor that a boy 

 plodding his way along the cutting, at the opposite side of both up 

 and down lines, looked up with amazement. He was at least 

 eighty or one hundred feet distant, and yet he evidently heard the 

 yell transmitted along the wire and received into the crown of an 

 ordinary silk hat. It was quite impossible that he should have 

 caught the original sound, for it was uttered in a cabin built on the 

 side of the line at the Welsh Harp station, more than a mile away, 

 and probably was not directly audible for one hundred yards. 

 Those who were on the embankment knew that it was transmitted 

 by means of a new mechanical telephone, for they had already 

 listened to the same voice at Finchley-road station, which is 3J 

 miles from the Welsh Harp. 



When every one had satisfied himself that spoken words, whis- 

 tling, and musical sounds could be received without special appara- 

 tus, the party re-entered the train, and went on to the Welsh Harp 

 station, where they found several linefs erected in the grounds of 

 the local hotel. One of the lines starts from a small cabin in the 

 grounds ; it then proceeds to a post on the margin of the lake, and 

 goes right across to a hut on the opposite bank. The distance is 

 between a fourth and a third of a mile ; and as this wire is not par- 

 ticularly tight, and only starts at a height of about ten feet above 

 the water, it will be readily understood that it must lie for nearly 

 its entire length in the mud which forms the bed of the lake. An- 

 other line traverses the gardens ; its supports are formed by 

 branches of trees, around several of which it is wound three times, 

 and is then led off at an angle to its original direction. In another 

 instance a row of statues are made to carry a line, which is laid 

 upon any part of them which furnishes a convenient guide. This 

 line is so slack that it can be bent into S form by the thumb and 

 forefinger. The very various circumstances appeared, however, to 

 make but little difference to the instruments, and in all cases con- 

 versation could be carried on with the greatest ease, and often 

 could be heard a foot or two away from the receiver. 



The instrument by which these curiously constructed lines were 

 made to give such remarkable results is the property o'f the British 

 Pulsion Telephone Company. It is the invention of Mr. Lemuel 

 Mellett of Newton, Mass., and already several hundred instru- 

 ments are at work in Boston and elsewhere. The construction is 

 so exceedingly simple, that one is filled with wonder that it can 

 effect so much. The receiver, which also acts as a transmitter, 

 consists of a wooden case, divided into two parts by a metallic 

 diaphragm held by a clip-ring and screws. In the centre of the 

 diaphragm is a hole through which there passes the line wire, hav- 

 ing at its end a button to take the pull. So far there is no special 

 novelty to distinguish the telephone from the old pill-box and string. 

 The new feature consists in a set of resonators placed over the 

 diaphragm to re-enforce its vibrations. These resonators may be 

 made in many different forms ; those used on this occasion are 

 spiral springs of various lengths, and made from wire of different 

 gauges. One set of springs is festooned between the screws which 

 hold the diaphragm, while others are held at one end only, and 

 project upwards and inwards within the case. These resonators 

 are chosen experimentally of such dimensions that each will be set 

 into vibration by some one or more of the tones which are usually 



