52 AN IMMENSE AEROLITE. . 



tion of i^roperty. Meteorology is one of the least understood of all the 

 sciences, but, from the investigations which have been made, there is reason 

 to believe that as more knowledge is obtained it may be reduced to an exact 

 science in the same manner as astronomy. It has, to some extent, been 

 demonstrated that storms, as other natural phenomena, move in cycles of 

 time and place. Scientists will, therefore, be led to the inquiry whether 

 any reasonable conclusion can be deduced from the occurrences on Sunday 

 night and those of two years ago at Eureka. The investigations, whicia 

 Avere made after the cloud-bursts of 1874 resulted in the theory that these 

 interior water- spouts were caused by clouds heavily charged with rain in a 

 dense state coming in contact with some lofty peak. The fact that they 

 usually occurred in mountainous regions adds weight to this theory. The 

 cloud-burst of Sunday at Eureka, was not., according to the account tele- 

 graphed, of such power and force as that occurring in 1874., But the loss of 

 life has been greater this time, although the destruction of property is less. 

 Two years ago the burst caused such a torrent of water to pour through the 

 streets of Eureka as to wash away dwellings and stores. The loss of life is 

 now appalling. Thirteen Chinamen, Avood-choppers, and a camp of Italians, 

 at work lumbering, are reported to have been washed away. There was a 

 cloud=burst on Sunday further east than Eureka. This occured nine miles 

 east of Elko. Such a torrent of water rushed down a mountain side that a 

 large landslide was the result, which was precipitated upon a freight train, 

 ditching it. Another also occurred last night on the line of the Central 

 Pacific, between Mill City and Humboldt, in Humboldt county, Nevada, 

 which laid the track of the road under water for several miles. It is more 

 than jDrobable that we shall hear of additional ones in other portions of 

 Nevada, as we did in 1874. One inconvenience to the people of California 

 from these disturbances of nature is that the telegraph wires get out of or- 

 der, if the poles are not washed away, and commuuication with the East is 

 temporarily suspended. 



An Immense Aerolite. — The large number of meteors lately observed 

 in the sky has attracted considerable attention, especially among scientific 

 men, who are of the opinion that the earth is passing through a belt of 

 aerolites. There is some diversity of opinion regarding the nature and ori- 

 gin of these stones, of which it is calculated at least 5,000 fall upon the 

 earth's surface yeai'ly. The theory most widely accepted is that they are 

 bodies of our planetary system that have come near enough to be acted 

 upon by the earth's gravitation, and thus drawn out of their orbits. A great 

 many aerolites have been found, and nearly every scientific institution in 

 the world is possessed of one or more. The largest of which there is anj^ 

 authentic record was found by a Swedish arctic expedition in 1870, on the 

 west coast of Greenland. It weighs twenty-five tons, and is now at the 

 Eoyal Academy at Stockholm. 



An aerolite of probably much greater size was seen last Friday night 

 by a reporter who was belated on the Ocean House road. At about 12:45, 

 he noticed a peculiar light on the sand and sea around him, and upon look- 

 ing upward discovered what appeared to be an immense ball of fire de- 

 scending toward the earth. Its course was so rapid that before he had re- 

 covered from his astonishment the mass fell into the sea, apparently about 

 half a mile from the shore. A loud, hissing noise, followed by a sharp ex- 

 plosion, accompanied the fall, and so frightened the horse which the report- 

 er was driving that his whole attention for the next five minutes was di- 

 rected toward the unruly animal, but he noticed that the tail of the meteor, 



