Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1883 — Something About Meteors. [ARTICLE]

Something About Meteors.

Talking about meteors, Prof. Nipher, of Washington University, St. Louis, said to a reporter that the largest meteoric stone that ever fell on the surface of the earth which was positively authenticated as such dropped into a corn-field several years ago near Homestead, lowa, its weight being 149 pounds. This stone was confiscated by a man who saw it fall, but it was subsequently recovered by the owner of the property upon which it decended, the courts decided that it properly belonged to the latter individual after considerable litigation. Meteoric stones usually broke into pieces before striking the earth and they ignited during their journey through the atmosphere, owing to the friction caused by the resistance they met with. They were usually composed of metalic iron and siderite. Those composed of metallic iron and nickel were found almost invariably to be the largest that had yet been discovered. By consulting “Loomis” the professor ascertained that eighteen wellauthenticated meteorites had fallen in the United States during the past sixty years, the aggregate weight of which was 1,250 pounds. The number that had been known to fall in all parts of the world was 261. There were seven-ty-four cases in which the exact date of the falling of meteorites could not be fixed, but they were known to have fallen. It was believed that eighty-four masses formed at different points on the earth’s surface were meteorites, owing to the peculiarity of their composition, the weights of these masses varying from a few pounds to several tons. Said the Professor; “If we could suppose meteorites to have fallen over the entire globe at the rate they have fallen in civilized countries we would then be able to fix the average fall of meteorites at 300 per annum. Half of the meteors that reach the earth no doubt fall unobserved. By taking the average weight of those known to have fallen in the United States as a basis for calculating we would find that the earth’s weight increased by reason of the phenomenon at the rate of about nine tons per year. Beside the masses that are constantly falling to the earth in the shape of meteors, large quantities of foreign matter reach the earth in the form of fine grains or particles termed meteoric dust. There could be no doubt that this dust is falling constantly, as its presence has been noticed by scientific observers in the snows of the Arctic regions.