THE METEORITES IN THE FOYER OF THE AMERICAN 

 MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 1 



By Edmund Otis Hovey, Ph. I). 



Associate Curator of Geology. 



Introduction. 



SCARCELY a century ago the scientific and even the popular 

 world scoffed at the idea that masses of matter could possibly 

 come from outer space (or "heaven") and strike the surface of 

 the earth, — in other words that stones could fall from the sky. Even 

 at the present time, although it is well known that occasionally masses 

 of metal and stone — "meteorites" — do fall from the sky, there is 

 much misinformation current in regard to their character and the con- 

 ditions under which they have come to the earth. 



Livv, Plutarch and other early historians mention several stones 

 which had been seen to fall from the sky. Among these were a stone 

 which fell in Phrygia and was kept there for centuries until it was removed 

 to Rome about 204 B. C. with imposing ceremonies; a shower of stones 

 that fell in the Alban Mountains near Rome about 052 B. C, and a 

 stone that fell in Thrace in the fifth century B. C. and was known to 

 Pliny five hundred years later. The image of the goddess Diana which 

 was preserved at Ephesus is said to have "fallen down from Jupiter" 

 and was probably a meteorite, and idol known as the Venus of Cyprus 

 seems likewise to have had the same origin. Stones which have fallen 

 from the sky have been regarded as being of miraculous origin and 

 have been worshiped by many primitive, peoples. They have been 

 viewed with awe too by tribes and nations which could not be con- 

 sidered primitive, including some in India, China and Japan. 



Arguments which form strange reading at the present day were 

 advanced by eminent scientists against the idea that any bodies could 

 come to the earth from space, and French scientists were particularly 



1 Guide Leaflet No. 26 of the American Museum series, 

 5 



