[meteorite-list] NPA 01-25-1903 Crumlin Meteorite Fall Account

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue May 3 11:18:26 2005
Message-ID: <BAY104-F298ED0136306FCCE034E55B3180_at_phx.gbl>

Paper: Davenport Daily Republican
City: Davenport, Iowa
Date: Sunday, January 25, 1903
Page: 4 (of 16)

A MONSTROUS METEOR

None Larger Has Fallen in England for Near a Century.

    Meteoric stones are by no means unfamiliar things in the history of
astronomical and physical science. They form a source of information
regarding the constitution of other worlds than ours, and their chemical
analysis affords a basis for the belief that a community of composition
characterizes all the members of the solar system. Described in Nature by
Mr. L. Fletcher, F.A.S., we have the account of the meteoric stone which
fell at Crosshill, Crumlim, situated about ten miles west of Belfast, on
Sept. 13, at 1:30 p.m., Irish time. It would seem that the Crumlin
meteorite exceeds in size any stone which has fallen from the sky in Britain
for 89 years. It is also larger than any stone which has fallen in England
since 1795. A lapse of 21 years also represents the time since any
meteorite had descended on the soil of Britian., and in Ireland itself no
such visitant has been recorded for 37 years. A Mr. Waller on, whose farm
the meteorite fell, says that the stone was hot when it landed, and felt hot
for at least an hour there-after. The fall occurred about 10:30 a.m. It
was accompanied by a noise compared to the bursting of a boiler. A cloud of
dust showed where the stone had entered the ground, and by aid of a spade
the meteorite was extracted from a depth of a foot and a half. A sulphurous
odor was perceived in the near vicinity of the stone, and the noise made by
the detonation, is is assorted, as heard at Lurgan, Antrim, Lisburn and
Legoniel. The greatest distance was that of Lurgan, which is situated 13
miles from Crosshill.
     These fragments from the sky which reach our earth represent only a
remnent of the many such visitants that career through the heavens,
especially at certain periods of the year. Everyone knows the "shooting
stars," as they are called. They shoot athwart the heavens glowing with
light engendered by the heat which results from the friction caused by their
rapid passage through the air. Most of them are burned out long before they
have a chance of reaching the earth's surface. When the mass of meteorite
lasts out the friction, so to speak, it reaches the earth. We have many
specimens of such stones in our museums. Some of them are of large size.
It measures seven and one-half inches in width, and three and one-half
inches in thickness. It is covered with what Mr. Fletcher calls the
characteristic crust that forms on such bodies during their passage through
the air. The likeness of chemical composition of meteorite with our own
worldly substances is close, but it is noted that in the Irish stone there
exists troilite, a photosulphide of iron which is not included in the
products of our planets. Astronomical science postulates the evolution of
all planets from a common origin and the composition of meteorites support
this view. If the sun's heat is the product of blazing hydrogen gas - the
gas used to inflate balloons, and formed one of the two gases whereof water
is composed - and if other common chemican elements (iron included) are
found to form part of the celestial orbs, the idea that all the planets have
been developed from a common basis must certainly receive at least
respectful consideration. - London Chronicle.

(end)
Received on Tue 03 May 2005 11:18:26 AM PDT