1S54.] 



METEORS AND FALLING STARS. 



189 



observation and research in the different departments of physical 

 knowledge, may be visible in this, as I have no doubt it will be, in 

 many other portions of the great field of science. 



My object in this paper is not to present any new theory for 

 your adoption, or to invite attention to any original views on the 

 subject to which it refers, but rather to state summarily the 

 leading questions connected with luminous meteoric phenomena, 

 so as to elicit the opinions of those scientific gentlemen whom I 

 have the pleasure to address, and with whom I have the honor 

 to be associated in this Institute. 



It may be observed at the beginning that what have been 

 called shooting-stars, fire-halls and meteorites, are generally 

 regarded as being closely connected in character. Although 

 possessing many distinct characteristics, careful observers tell us 

 that fire balls cannot be considered as entirely separate from 

 shooting-stars. Humboldt observes, that both these phenomena 

 are not only often simultaneous, but often found to merge into 

 one another, the one gradually assuming the character of the 

 other, alike with respect to the size of their discs, the emanation 

 of sparks and the velocities of their motions ; but, he adds in a 

 later work, that relation is not identity, and that much remains 

 to be investigated as to the physical relations of both. Again, 

 the connection of meteorites and fire-balls, and of fire-balls 

 and shooting-stars has been proved by facts of an indubitable 

 character. Whilst most writers, therefore, on these phenomena 

 have, to the great perplexity of the unscientific reader, failed in 

 their attempts to treat of them separately, still a certain classifi- 

 cation has been adopted as the basis of inquiry into the causes 

 and physical connections of such phenomena; and although ex- 

 pressive of little more than mere external aspects, irrespective of 

 the physical causes of such appearances, such a classification is 

 useful, and to it I shall adhere as far as possible in what follows. 



We have then 1st, balls of light, appearing suddenly, presenting 

 certain physical characters, and as suddenly disappearing; 2nd, 

 shooting-stare, visible at all times and in all countries ; and 3rd, 

 aerolites or meteorites, differing in size and form, but possessing 

 certain features indicative of a common origin, and that foreign 

 to the planet on which they fall. 



The spirit of inquiry into the nature of these bodies began 

 to awake about the close of last century, and from that time to 

 the present, extensive research has been employed to ascertain 

 the early history of certain aerolites, reports of which were 

 common to all ages, but which have only recently become the 

 subject of historical evidence. The ingenious and fanciful Ed- 

 ward King thinks that he finds a reference to these in the " hail- 

 stones and coals of fire " mentioned by David in the 1 8th Psalm ; 

 and also in the "great stones" with which Jehovah discomfited 

 and slew the five kings "who made war against Gibeon. For the 

 knowledge of the most ancient falls of aerolites, which are deter- 

 mined with chronological accuracy, we are indebted to the industry 

 of the Chinese. They possess authentic catalogues of the re- 

 markable meteors of all classes, aerolites included, which have 

 appeared in China during a period of 2400 years. Their reports 

 therefore reach back to the time of Tyrtaeus, and the second 

 Messenian war of the Spartans, or 179 years prior to the fall of 

 the large meteoric stone at Aegos Potamos, which Pliny describes 

 as being as " large as a cart," even in his day ; and which Hum- 

 boldt thinks may yet be found, notwithstanding the failure that 

 attended the efforts of the African traveller, Brown. Edward 

 Biot, who has translated these records, has found sixteen falls of 

 aerolites for the epoch from the middle of the seventh century 

 B.C., to the 333rd year of the Christian era; while the Greek 

 .and Roman writers mention only four such phenomena, as 



having occurred during the same space of time. He mentions 

 also, that during the three centuries from A.D. 960 to 1270, not 

 fewer than 1479 meteors are registered by official observers em- 

 ployed for the purpose. In 1794 the celebrated work of Chladni 

 was published, and was the means of arousing general attention 

 throughout Europe to the whole subject. In that book a cata- 

 loo-uels oiven of all the recorded observations of fire-balls, and other 

 meteors which had been previously made ; and by the time that 

 his second work appeared in 1819, containing a full account of 

 aerolites, registered according to the periods and places of Aeir 

 fall, as well as the directions of their line of descent, all scepticism 

 on the subject had vanished, and his statements were received 

 with entire assent by the scientific portion of his readers at least. 

 His work, too, had the effect of calling more general attention to 

 those ferruo-inous masses which had been found in different 

 countries, and of assigning to them a meteoric character. I refer 

 to such masses as those found in Otumpa and Bahia in Brazil, 

 the former of which weighed about 14,000 pounds, or such 

 specimens as that of the Siberian stone described by Pallas, and 

 which is now in the Imperial Museum, in St. Petersburg. I 

 may notice that the number of aerolites registered by Chladni, 

 as havino- fallen from the commencement of the Christian era 

 down to°1818, is 165. Between 1600 and 1818, seventeen of 

 these fell in Britain, fifteen in France, and seventeen in Germany. 

 From Chladni's time to the present day, almost every country 

 has supplied not only observers but collectors of these curious 

 stones, of which large quantities are to be seen in every European 

 Museum, and not a few in the cabinets of scientific gentlemen in 

 the United States. 



The name of Professor C. U. Shepard, is well known for his 

 enthusiasm in collecting and investigating these extraordinary 

 bodies. He has recently deposited in his magnificent cabinet at 

 Amherst, U.S., a metallic of a most interesting character. "This 

 specimen is entire, of an elongated ovoidal form, and covered with 

 the usual indentations. It appears to be compact malleable iron, 

 exhibiting the characteristic crystalline figures, and weighs 178 

 pounds. It was discovered in the Great Lion River, in the 

 Nemaqua Land, in South Africa, and, having been transported 

 several hundred miles in wagons to the Cape of Good Hope, was 

 shipped to London. Professor Shepard, being in the city at the 

 time of its arrival, immediately entered into negociations to 

 obtain possession of this miniature world, and, with considerable 

 difficulty succeeded. Besides this prince of meteorites may be 

 seen another stranger, belonging to the same high-born noble 

 family, from Newbern, S. C, weighing 58 pounds. This col- 

 lection of extra-terrestrial substances weighs more than 350 

 pounds, and includes 200 specimens from more than 100 dif- 

 ferent localities." 



There is also alarge mass, weighing about 3000 fbs.,m the Natu- 

 ral History Lyceum in New York, which was found at the Red 

 River, in Louisiana. It is stated in the January No. of Silliman's 

 Journal, that Prof. Smith has found a meteorite in East Ten- 

 nessee, which weighed at first over 60 fts. It is a highly inte- 

 resting one, having furnished for the first time the solid proto- 

 chlorid of iron found in a fissure. It is also rich in phosphuret 

 of iron and nickel, and furnishes material for a full investigation 

 of this latter mineral. 



During the night, meteorites are generally observed to fall 

 from fire°-balls; during the day, from a small, suddenly-formed 

 dark cloud in a clear sky, though sometimes the cloud is wanting. 

 Generally, the fall is accompanied with a very considerable crack- 

 ling noise, and the stone when found is sometimes in a heated state. 

 Although possessing much general resemblance to each other, 



