of smaller bodies was, until lately, generally acknowledged;[44]
for the only other conceivable natural cause, known to exist from
independent evidence, namely, chemical combination, was quite
insufficient; the greatest amount of heat obtainable from the most
advantageous chemical combination of any of the then known elements,
having a total mass equal to that of the sun, would not cover the sun's
expenditure for more than three thousand years, while there is no
difficulty on the meteoritic explanation in providing a supply of heat
sufficient to cover the loss by radiation during 20,000,000 years. But
the discovery that compounds of radium maintain themselves at a higher
temperature than that of surrounding bodies and are only inappreciably
changed though continuously emitting an appreciable amount of heat,
shows that the meteoritic hypothesis as to the cause of the sun's high
temperature is not necessarily the true one: there may be an analogous
heat-yielding material in the sun.
In any case the present loss of the sun's heat by radiation is probably
not covered by the fall of bodies into the sun; for the requisite mass
would, if from distant regions, visibly affect the motions of the
planets by its attraction, and, even if circulating round the sun at no
great distance from it, would seriously disturb the motions of some of
the comets. Further, much heat will result from the shrinkage of the
volume of the solar aggregate.
[Sidenote: Evolution of the heavenly bodies.]
78. By study of the spectra, at various temperatures, of the elements
and compounds found in those meteorites which have reached our earth
and been preserved, Sir Norman Lockyer[45] has been led to support
the view that the stars are not at present all cooling down, but that
some, on the contrary, are rising in temperature; he suggests that many
of the stars, like the nebulæ, are constituted of separate meteorites
in continual relative motion, and become hotter and hotter through
contraction of the grouping, collision, and transformation of the
energy of position and motion into heat. This increase of temperature
must continue during successive ages, until the energy of position and
motion of the separate meteorites is wholly transformed, the separate
masses having then combined to form a single white hot body which will
gradually cool down to the state in which our own moon now is. If a
swarm of meteorites forming one nebula be subjected to the external
action of another moving swarm of meteorites, intermediate stages
resembling the conditions of Saturn and of the solar system may ensue.
According to this spectroscopic affirmation of the nebular theory, all
the heavenly bodies are constituted of the same kinds of elementary
matter, those in fact which are found in meteorites and our own earth,
and the difference is solely due to temperature; and a nebula in
its gradual passage to the lunar condition will show every phase of
spectrum observed in the stars as now existent.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Meteorites present no evidence of life.]
79. Finally, it may be asked whether or not meteorites bring us any
tangible evidence of the existence of living beings outside our own
world. To this we may briefly answer, that while an organic origin can
scarcely be claimed for the graphite present in the meteoric irons,
there are no less than six meteoric stones which contain, though in
very minute quantity, carbon compounds of such a character that their
presence in a terrestrial body would be regarded as doubtlessly an
indirect result of animal or vegetable existence. On the other hand,
the stony matter is such that in a terrestrial body an igneous origin
would be assumed.
Professor Maskelyne has pointed out that these carbon compounds can be
completely removed without a preliminary pulverisation of the stone,
and thus seem to be contained merely in the pores; he suggested that
they may have been absorbed by the stones in their passage through an
atmosphere containing the compounds in a state of vapour. In any case,
it is impossible to prove that there is a necessary relation between
these compounds of carbon and the existence of living beings.
[Sidenote: Chondrules have been mistaken for organisms.]
80. In 1880[46] descriptions were given of sponges, corals, crinoids
and plants, found in several meteorites, chiefly in that of Knyahinya,
but the memoir has been generally regarded as an elaborate jest. The
chondrules with their excentrically radiating crystallisation are
there classified and named as sponges, corals and crinoids, while the
structure of meteoric iron, revealed by the Widmanstätten figures,
is regarded as a result of plant life. There can be no hesitation in
asserting that as yet no organised matter has been found in meteorites.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Remarks concerning stones said to have fallen from the clouds both
in these days and in ancient times: by Edward King. London, 1796.
Mémoire historique et physique sur les chutes des pierres: par P. M. S.
Bigot de Morogues. Orléans, 1812.
[2] Sitzungsber. d. k. Ak. d. Wiss. Wien. 1856, vol. 22, p. 393.
[3] Records of the Geological Survey of India. Calcutta, 1885, vol. 18,
p. 237.
[4] Ueber den Ursprung der von Pallas gefundenen und anderer ihr
ähnlicher Eisenmassen. Riga, 1794.
[5] Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des russischen Reichs: von
P. S. Pallas. St. Petersburg, 1776, Part III., p. 411.
[6] Philosophical Transactions. London, 1788, vol. 78, part 1, pp. 37, 183.
[7] Philosophical Transactions. London, 1795, vol. 85, p. 103.
[8] _Ibid._, 1802, vol. 92, p. 174.
[9] Bulletin des Sciences par la Société Philomathique. Paris, 1803,
vol. 3, no. 71, p. 180.
[10] Mémoires de l'Institut National de France. 1806, vol. 7, part 1,
Histoire, p. 224.
[11] Principes de Thermodynamique: par Paul de Saint-Robert. Paris,
1870, p. 329.
[12] The Fall of Butsura: by Prof. Maskelyne. Phil. Mag. 1863, vol. 25,
p. 50.
[13] Die chemische Natur der Meteoriten: von C. Rammelsberg. Berlin,
1870-9. Météorites: par S. Meunier. Paris, 1884. Meteoritenkunde:
von E. Cohen. Stuttgart, 1894-1905.
[14] Some lecture-notes on meteorites: by Prof. Maskelyne. _Nature_, 1875,
vol. 12, pp. 485, 504, 520.
[15] Études synthétiques de géologie expérimentale. Paris, 1879. p. 517.
[16] Phil. Mag. 1884, ser. 5, vol. 17, p. 462.
[17] _Nature_, 1904, vol. 71, p. 32.
[18] Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, 1905, Band I, p. 122.
[19] Denksch. d. math-naturw. Klasse d. k. Ak. d. Wiss., 1905, Band 78,
p. 635.
[20] Philosophical Transactions, London, 1908, Ser. A, vol. 208, p. 21.
[21] Mineralogical Magazine. London, 1884, vol. 6, p. 1.
[22] Beschreibung und Eintheilung der Meteoriten. Berlin, 1864.
[23] Die mikroskopische Beschaffenheit der Meteoriten: von G. Tschermak.
Stuttgart, 1883-5.
[24] Pogg. Ann. 1858, vol. 105, p. 438: Phil. Mag. 1876, ser. 5, vol. 1,
p. 497.
[25] On the structure and origin of meteorites. _Nature_, 1877, vol.
15, p. 495.
[26] Die Meteoritensammlung d.k.k. min. Hofkabinetes in Wien. 1885, p. 19.
[27] Lithological Studies. Cambridge, U.S.A. 1884, p. 110.
[28] Speculations on the source of Meteorites. _Nature_, 1879, vol. 19,
p. 493.
[29] _Olmsted._ American Jour. Sc., 1834, ser. 1, vol. 25, p. 363.
[30] _Newton._ American Jour. Sc., 1864, ser. 2, vol. 37, p. 377; vol.
38, p. 53.
[31] Report Brit. Assoc., 1868, p. 394.
[32] Pogg. Ann., 1858, vol. 105, p. 438.
[33] Denning. _Nature_, 1885, vol. 31, p. 463.
[34] Monthly Notices of the Roy. Astron. Soc. 1899, vol. 59, p. 179.
[35] Newton. _Nature_, 1886, vol. 33, pp. 392, 418.
[36] _Newton._ American Jour. Sc., 1886, ser. 3, vol. 31, p. 409.
[37] _Hidden._ American Jour. Sc., 1887, ser. 3, vol. 33, p. 223.
[38] Presidential Address to the Brit. Assoc. for the Advancement of
Science, 1891.
[39] Proc. Roy. Soc., Edinb., 1869, vol. 6, p. 553.
[40] American Jour. Sc., 1875, ser. 3, vol. 10, p. 44.
[41] Proc. Roy. Soc., Edinb., 1871, vol. 7, p. 460.
[42] Lockyer. _Nature_, 1886, vols. 33 and 34.
[43] _Nature_, 1877, vol. 16, p. 413.
[44] Treatise on Natural Philosophy, by Thomson and Tait: _Cambridge_,
1883, vol. 1, part 2, p. 487.
[45] Proc. Royal Society, 1887, vol. 43, p. 117: 1888, vol. 44, Bakerian
lecture.
[46] Die Meteorite (Chondrite) und ihre Organismen: von Dr. O. Hahn.
Tübingen, 1880.
LIST OF THE METEORITES
REPRESENTED IN THE COLLECTION
ON MAY 1, 1908.
* * * * *
_The references in the second column correspond with numbers and
letters on the cases, and indicate the pane behind which the meteorite
will be found._
* * * * *
Weights under one gram are not given. 1,000 grams are equivalent to
2·205 avdp. lbs.
* * * * *
I. SIDERITES
or Meteoric Irons
(_consisting chiefly of nickeliferous iron, and enclosing
schreibersite, troilite, graphite, &c._).
* * * * *
A. FALL RECORDED.
[Arranged chronologically.]
+----+------+------------------------------+-------------------+---------+
|No. |Pane. | Name of Meteorite and | Date of Fall. | Weight |
| | | Place of Fall. | |in grams.|
+----+------+------------------------------+-------------------+---------+
| 1 | 1c |AGRAM (Hraschina), Croatia, |May 26, 1751. | 282 |
| | |Austria. | | |
| | | | | |
| 2 | 1c |CHARLOTTE, Dickson County, |July 31, or} 1835. | 77 |
| | |Tennessee, U.S.A. |Aug. 1, } | |
| | | | | |
| 3 |1c, 4l|BRAUNAU (Hauptmannsdorf), |July 14, 1847. | 554 |
| | |Bohemia. | | |
| | | | | |
| 4 |1c, 4l|VICTORIA WEST, Cape Colony, | Fell in 1862. | 153 |
| | |South Africa. | | |
| | | | | |
| 5 |1c, 4h|NEDAGOLLA, Mirangi, |Jan. 23, 1870. | 4,280 |
| | |Vizagapatam, Madras, India. | | |
| | | | | |
| 6 | 1c |ROWTON, near Wellington, |April 20, 1876. | 3,109 |
| | |Shropshire. | | |
| | | | | |
| 7 | 1c |MAZAPIL, Zacatecas, Mexico. |Nov. 27, 1885. | 14 |
| | | | | |
| 8 | 1c |CABIN CREEK, Johnson County, |March 27, 1886. | 5 |
| | |Arkansas, U.S.A. | | |
| | | | | |
| 9 | 1c |N'GOUREYMA, Djenne, Massina, |June 15, 1900. | 871 |
| | |North-West Africa. | | |
+----+------+------------------------------+-------------------+---------+
B. FALL NOT RECORDED.
[Arranged topographically.]