the Fall of Meteorites on the Earth. 351 



heard hissing sounds, and that before the chief detonation 

 had attracted their attention. All the stones were covered 

 with a black crust bearing evidence of fusion, and presented 

 angular and fragmentary shapes ; their interior resembled grey 

 solid rocks*. The American naturalists inferred from the col- 

 lated accounts about the igneous globe, the acoustic phenomena, 

 and the fall itself, that the first and chief detonation took place 

 at an altitude of about 40 miles (English) above the southern 

 portion of Noble County, at a distance of about 30 miles from 

 New Concord ; and that the fall of the stones themselves com- 

 menced about one mile S.E. of that place, extending over an 

 area of 10 miles in length by 2 to 3 in breadth, the largest 

 ones falling last. The sound perceived was supposed to have 

 been explosive in its nature ; and the meteor, after having ceased 

 to be visible, must have continued its course towards the North- 

 west. These are some of the most important facts relating to 

 'the phenomenon. Desirable as it is to pursue induction step by 

 step, it is impossible to give a clear exposition without sketching 

 previously the succession in time of each event as they are ob- 

 served and perceived by our senses. Nobody who has ever ex- 

 amined meteorites with more than superficial attention, can have 

 doubted that their interior and their exterior present two dif- 

 ferent periods of formation. The general form of meteorites is 

 that of fragments, the constitution of their external crust is the 

 consequence of superficial fusion. They are fragments coming from 

 remote cosmical regions, which having entered the earth's atmo- 

 sphere, are first perceived by us as stars, increasing in size as they 

 come nearer to us. Great care should be taken to observe and 

 note the moment or time with as much exactitude as possible, 

 as, combined with the time of the year and the hour of the day, 

 it gives us the direction of the meteor. The direction and the 

 velocity of our globe in its circum-solar orbit (19 English miles 

 per second, while a point on the equator by diurnal rotation 

 moves 1464-7 Vienna feet in a second, or 900 nautical miles per 

 hour), are well known. 



Many observations have proved meteorites to travel 16 to 40 

 English miles in a second. Humboldt, in his 'Cosmos/ has 

 even, from the observations of J. Schmidt, Heis, and Houzeau, 

 calculated a velocity of 95 miles a second. 



These orbits cross and oppose each other in every conceivable 

 direction. Important consequences may be deduced from these 

 enormous velocities, as compared with what takes place on the 

 surface of our globe. A devastating hurricane takes place in 



* " Viewed from most positions, this stone (that of 103 lbs. at Marietta 

 College) is angular, and appears to have been quite recently broken from 

 a larger mass." 



