On Meteorites. 111 
-orite is interesting, not only for the fact that it clearly shows the 
chondrite structure to be of a fragmentary nature, but especially 
because it affords proof of the process having been repeated—a cir- 
cumstance not at all surprising in a celestial body which, in its 
wanderings through space, has repeatedly approached close to the 
sun. 
In addition to the above, it should also be remembered that the 
gases—carbonie acid, carbonic oxide and hydrogen—which have 
been successfully extracted from meteorites, are said to give the same 
spectroscopical lines as the comets when approaching the sun. 
The above explanation of the different peculiarities in the struc- 
ture of the meteorites is advanced here, of course, chiefly to instigate 
further investigation. As here propounded, it does away with all 
moments which may not be reasonably admitted in regard to the 
orbits of these celestial bodies, thus, for instance, making unnéces- 
sary any recourse to volcanic or other processes supposed to have 
taken place on distant globes once large, but long since exploded. 
In support of this latter theory—viz.: that the meteorites have 
originally belonged to globes of considerable dimensions—it has 
been argued that the formation of so large crystals as are found in 
some iron meteorites can only have taken place on a celestial body 
of respectable size. The correctness of this inference may well be 
doubted. It is true that on our earth—which, in this connection, 
may be regarded a big globe—some minerals form large crystals 
during a slow growth ; but it cannot be inferred from this fact that 
large crystals cannot appear on a very small one. The mere circum- 
stance that in the latter the force of gravity is practically nil makes 
matters there stand quite differently from what they are on a great 
celestial body. It may be supposed that as the force of gravity 
plays only an insignificant part, those other forces which produce 
the arrangement of the molecules in the crystals are allowed to have 
their play much more freely than under other circumstances. The 
smallness of the meteoric masses may perhaps also account for their — 
easy crumbling and the dislocation of the fragments. The minerals 
of the meteorites, which on our globe appear to belong to the com- 
paratively heavy substances, may in a certain sense be said to weigh 
nothing as long as they form part of a celestial body perhaps not 
a yard in diameter. 
Among other things, it may also be supposed that the electric — 
forces called into activity by the violent changes of temperature 
