SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



6S 



MKTl'-.ORI TKS. 



Kv |Mil\ r. CARKlNtiTON. 



A HKiKNT ins|)(.'<;tiini of ihc niafjniliccnl privalc 

 ■'^ ciillcctiDii iif nifleuritfs, valued al nearly four 

 ihousanfl pounds Stirling, and formed by Mr. 

 James R. ('<re}4<>ry, of i, Kelso Place, Kensington, 

 Lonilon, suggested the thought that the readers of 

 " SilKNCE-GossiP " may be interested in learning 

 more about these mysterious wanderers from the 

 unknown. It is probably the finest private collec- 

 tion in existence, having occupied the owner about 

 forty years in assiduous search for meteorites. It 

 contains some 550 specimens, representing upwards 

 of 400 distinct falls, including types of great rarity. 

 An important feature is the representation of many 

 of the earlier falls, examples of which are now ex- 



downs. These are supposed by some people to be 

 meteorites, as are also belemnites from the oolite 

 anil lias. They arc, however, of terrestrial, not 

 uranic, origin. Though there are instances of 

 meteorites having fallen during thunderstorms, it 

 is only coincidence, and the one has no connection 

 with the other. 



Falls of meteorites were recorded in ancient times 

 by early writers in Chinese, Hebrew, Greek and 

 Roman literature, yet no scientific attempt was 

 made to investigate the phenomena until the com- 

 mencement of the [)resent century. In fact, even 

 then, very few people believed that such visitants 

 to our earth came from the sky. They were looked 



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,\i.i. OK OcHANSK Meteoriti;, RlSSIA, ArCI'KT y^. 1K87, 

 a.— Inhere -witnessed to/alt. 



I 



teedingly difEcult to obtain. In the collection are 

 whole or portions of ^^5 stony meteorites, 155 

 meteoric irons and 24 siderolites. Before proceed- 

 ing further with a description of the Gregory col- 

 lection of meteorites, it may be well to give some 

 account of what is known of these visitants from 

 space. The word meteorite is adopted in most 

 European languages for a mineral or metallic mass 

 of exlra-tcrrestrial origin that has fallen from space. 

 The word aiirolite was once generally used in the 

 older literature of the subject. Such a mass was 

 also very rarely described as a uranolite or a 

 bolide. Meteorolite has the same application, but 

 is not now often used. The term thunderbolt is 

 applied by ignorant peasantry to masses of iron 

 pyrites, occurring as crystalline nodules on chalk 

 .'\i'<:., 1S99. — No. 6,;. Vol. VI. 1 



upon as the inventions of fertile imaginations. 

 Wl en the stones themselves were produced, in 

 general appearance they closely resembled other 

 stones or masses of metal, and no indication was 

 forthcoming that they were not of this world. Even 

 when immediatelv fallen with accompanying noise 

 and bla/e of light, a stone n\eteorite may feel to 

 the hand intensely cold. This is to be accounted 

 for by the fact that they come from the region of 

 space, where heat is unknown, excepting from re- 

 flected sun rays. Though the outer surface of the 

 meteorite is ablaze through the friction of our atmo- 

 sphere, the length of time occupied in passing the 

 earth's gaseous envelope is so small that the heat 

 is instantly absorbed by the cold mass. It is stated 

 on good authority that several persons handled a 



