86 
The American Geologist. 
February, 1896 
6. “Would it be possible for a loosely cemented stone, like 
most meteorites, to fall upon the atmosphere, with the speed 
with which meteorites travel, without disintegration? Would 
it not necessarily crumble into many pieces, in the same man¬ 
ner and for the same reason that a pailful of water, suddenly 
liberated at a bight, is divided into many parts* and perhaps 
into spray before it reaches -the earth?” 
It is hardly correct to consider most meteorites as “loosely 
cemented;” for many, even of the stones, have an almost dio- 
ritic toughness and break with difficulty. But even if their 
texture be regarded as comparatively fragile, the fact that 
single masses of meteoric stones weighing from 400 to 600 and 
perhaps 1,200 pounds have come to the earth, shows that the 
“spray” to which they have been reduced has been compara¬ 
tively coarse, and that the violence of their impact has not 
been such as to entirely disintegrate them. 
7. “Cannot the different explosions of meteorites be all at¬ 
tributed to the passage of so many large masses through the 
air, or to the atmospheric agitation of their impact on the 
lower air?” 
The fact that so many different theories have already been 
proposed b}^ eminent authorities to explain the sounds like an 
explosion heard at the fall of meteorites indicates that the 
cause of those sounds is likely to be for some time a matter of 
individual opinion. Haidinger* regarded the detonation as 
due to “the sudden irruption of the surrounding atmosphere 
into the vacuum of the igneous globe when the action of the 
vis viva of the movement had reached its term.” J. Lawrence 
Sinithf believed the noise to be produced by “concussion of 
the atmosphere arising from the rapid motion of the body 
through it, or in part due to electric discharge.” Prof. H. A. 
Newton]; has explained it by saying that “the pressure of the 
air cracks the stone,—perhaps scaling off small fragments, 
perhaps breaking it into pieces of more uniform size. In the 
latter case the condensed air in front of the meteor being sud¬ 
denly relieved will expand, giving the terrific explosion which 
accompanies such breaking up.” Dr. Flight§ says that “the 
*Philosophical Magazine, April, 1869. 
tAm. Jour. Sci., Ill, vol. xxxi, p. 98. 
j Article on Meteorites, Encycl. Brit, 
introduction to the Study of Meteorites, 1890, p. 21. 
