Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1876 — A Remarkable Meteoric Shower in Sweden. [ARTICLE]

A Remarkable Meteoric Shower in Sweden.

. A fall of meteorites, we learn from Aftonblad, took place on June 28, between eleven and twelve a. m., near Stalldalen, a station on the Swedish Central Railway, in the northernmost part of Orebrolaen. Several fell, some on the ground and others in a lake. Two were found, one about the size of the fist and weighing four and a half pounds, the other smaller. Eyewitnesses stated that a loud whistling was first heard in the air from west to east, and a light was plainly distinguishable; although the sky was clear and cloudless, thereafter two very sharp reports were heard, the second succeeding the first after a momentary interval, followed by several others less sharp, resembling thunder, after which the falling stones were observed by eight or ten persons; and, finally, there was seen in the air a whirling smoke, not very high up. A meteor was observed simultaneously at Stockholm and at other places. At thirteen English miles southwest of Linkoping it was seen first in a northwesterly direction pretty high up in the sky, and it then sank down in about ten seconds toward the horizon in the west. It had the appearance of a large pear a foot long, which, notwithstanding the bright sunshine, left behind a clear shining streak of six or eight feet in apparent length, which finally broke up into a multitude of star-like sparks. Here no noise was heard. According to a communication from the Stockholm Meteorological Bureau there is reason to believe that the phenomena rose from the “kulblixt” (foudre globulaire), which generally appears as a luminous round object, and often, on approaching the ground, assumes a lengthened form and a blinding white color, and bursts assunder, commonly with a loud report. As alj who observed the meteor, both ip Stockholm and Sodermanland, saw the luminous appearance in the same direction, namely, west northwest, it is probable that the light proceeded from the main mass of the meteor situated at a very great distance. The phenomenon observed here (at Stockholm) must therefore have been so far an illusion, the obect instead of being, as most p eople estimated, within a few thousand feet, being actually at a great distance. Later information shows that the phenomenon was visible over a great part of middle Sweden. —Nature.

The Reform Economique gives some interesting statistics of the price of land in Paris. On an average of sales it is found that the soil of the capital of France is worth 12,706,060,000 francs, or upwards of £500,000,000. This does not include the value of the buildings. The highest prices paid for the square meter of land have been, in the Second Arrondissement, Place de la Bourse, 1,800 francs; in the Fourth Arrondissement, Rue St. Antoine, 465 francs; in the Ninth Arrondissement, Boulevard Haussmann, 975 francs; in the Fifteenth Arrondissement, Rue Malakoff, 192 francs. The lowest prices paid in the same districts for the square meter amount, for the Second, to 600 francs; for the Fourth, 130 francs; for the Ninth, 48 francs; for the fifteenth, 7 francs. The cheapest recorded price of the square meter in recent times is 1 franc (Twentieth Arrondissement. Passage des Envierges). The highest price paid is 1,800 francs. The meter equals 1,960 English yards.— LouiniUe Courier-Journal.