54^ 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[June 8, iS 



upon the earth is very rarely observed. In 1631 a fall 

 took place upon a Swedish vessel in a French port, and 

 two sailors were killed ; and there are other instances on 

 record of death by meteorites. There have been several 

 falls in our own country within the last century, one 

 in Shropshire and another in Yorkshire. They strike 

 the earth with considerable velocity, and bury them- 

 selves deeply in the ground, sometimes as much as three 

 or four feet, but sometimes, owing to their course being 

 exceedingly oblique, they do not do so. A fall was 

 observed in the Baltic where a stone rebounded from ice 

 two inches thick. As to their temperature when they 

 reach the earth, this has to be gathered from the evidence 

 of witnesses of their fall. They are generally excessively 

 hot when they reach the ground, for the reason before 

 mentioned, but a case is on record that in India a native 

 picked one up and dropped it immediately on account of 

 its excessive coldness. This is explained by the fact 

 that they are the same temperature as stellar space 

 (about 250 degs. Centigrade) before they reach our atmo- 

 sphere, a temperature so low that we have no conception 

 of it, as it is much below the temperature required to 

 liquefy gases, such as carbonic anhydride. They become 

 heated owing to their rapid passage through our atmo- 

 sphere ; but, seeing that this passage only occupies a few 

 seconds, the outer film of the meteorite only becomes 

 heated, so that when it falls it rapidly cools by radiation, 

 and the reserve of cold in the interior asserts itself The 

 meteorite breaks before it reaches the earth, and the 

 fragments are found scattered over an elliptical area of 

 country, the larger stones at one end and the smaller at 

 the other. In one case the fragments were found over a 

 district of 180 miles. The fragments are triangular in 

 shape, and if placed together the result would be a large 

 triangular body. They have a highly glazed surface, as 

 if they had been black-leaded, traversed by minute ridges 

 and furrows. This glazed surface extends only a fraction 

 of an inch into the interior, and is found to be merely a 

 film caused by the fusing of the material of which it 

 consists. With regard to their chemical composition, 

 about twenty-six elements have been found in them, all 

 terrestrial. They contain, however, certain compounds 

 which, under other circumstances, we should consider 

 organic, such as oily substance of the nature of petroleum. 

 Carbon is of common occurrence. Some of the minerals 

 composing them are unfamiliar to us, but they are 

 gradually being found on the earth ; and it is expected 

 that as soon as the mineralogy of this earth has been 

 fully worked out they will all be found to exist on the 

 earth. All the minerals occurring in meteorites have 

 been classified, which is not the case with those com- 

 posing the earth. Iron occurs largely, both free and 

 combined with nickel, and also as a phosphite. There is 

 also a sulphite which is not known as a terrestrial mineral. 

 Iron never occurs as an oxide in meteorites, which is 

 frequently the case on the earth. Meteorites contain 

 gases imbedded in their pores, amounting to five or six 

 times their volume at normal pressure. The gases 

 which have been found are carbonic oxide, carbonic 

 anhydride, hydrogen, and oxygen. They have fallen in 

 all parts of the earth and at all seasons of the year, 

 although more have fallen in South Carolina in the last 

 twenty years than have fallen in all the rest of the world 

 put together. The old records which have been collated 

 show that about thirty-three years elapse between the 

 great meteoric displays, and it has been computed that 

 somewhere about the 15th November, 1898, a brilliant 



display may be expected. Several ingenious and start- 

 ling theories have been put forward to account for them. 

 Some say they are fragments thrown ''off the sun by 

 some explosive action similar to volcanic action, and the 

 moon and the earth have also been mentioned as their 

 starting point. At one time it was reported that fossils 

 had been found in meteorites, but this notion has been 

 abandoned. Another very remarkable theory, and one 

 hard to believe, was that our earth had been peopled by 

 germs carried to it by meteorites. 



NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 

 The first meeting of the summer session was held on 

 May isth. Dr. Stirton, F.L.S., in the chair. Mr. R. 

 M'Kay reported on an excursion made to Darnley Glen, 

 near Nitshill, on the 12th ult. Among the specimens 

 obtained was Paris qiiadrifolia, Linn. Mr. D. A. Boyd 

 exhibited several species of land and marine Isopods 

 from the neighbourhood of West Kilbride, including 

 PorcdUo annadilloides, Idotea trictispidata, and Nasa 

 bidenta. Mr. Thos. King exhibited Morchella scmilihera, 

 a fungus found growing at Darnley Glen (not previously 

 recorded for the West of Scotland). Mr. R. Broom, 

 B.Sc, brought forward a number of microscopical pre- 

 parations illustrating the development of enamel and 

 dentine. Before exhibiting these, he gave \z. short 

 account of the various stages in the development 

 of a tooth and of the individual dental tissues. 



JUNIOR ENGINEERING SOCIETY. 

 At the concluding meeting of the present session of 

 this Society held recently, a paper was read by Mr. F. W. 

 Quick, C.E., on " The Elements of Stresses in Struc- 

 tures." Reference to diagrams and models assisted the 

 author in his investigation of the character of stress to 

 which constructional material under various con- 

 ditions and circumstances was subject. After the 

 reading of the paper, which was supplemented by 

 additional information from the author, an animated dis- 

 cussion ensued. Arrangements are now in progress for 

 the visiting during the summer months of several places 

 of engineering interest in the vicinity of the metropolis. 



SOUTH LONDON ENTOMOLOGICAL AND 

 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 

 On May 24th Mr. G. F. Fenn read a paper on the "Land 

 and Fresh-water Mollusca of the Southern Counties." 

 The speaker explained the distribution of the various 

 species, discussing their connection with the geology of 

 the district. He pointed out the remarkable tendency 

 to albinoism among the mollusca of the Isle of Thanet, 

 a fact the more remarkable as Lepidoptera of the same 

 locality incline to melanism. 



Some conversation followed on the agreement or dis- 

 agreement of the molluscous districts with those recog- 

 nised in case of insects. 



— ■•-^l^«^*tf-»— 



Roman Remains in the City. — The remains of the 

 Roman wall, St. Martin's-le-Grand, may be viewed any 

 Friday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., by orders to be pre- 

 viously obtained from the Secretary, Her Majesty's Office 

 of Works, 12, Whitehall-place. 



