[meteorite-list] wonder and awe

From: Martin Altmann <altmann_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Sep 7 20:39:24 2006
Message-ID: <01b201c6d2df$363c2890$4f41fea9_at_name86d88d87e2>

Meteorites, as Humboldt pointed out, are the only medium with which the
inhabitants of the earth are brought into interplanetary and also into
interstellar space. They have, therefore, a fascination for the ordinary
man's mind which nothing terrestrial can have.
A survey of the heavens, with the naked eye or by the aid of a telescope,
fills our minds with wonder and awe, mingled with intense curiosity as to
what the brilliant celestial bodies may possibly mean.
But when the meteoric globe sails across the sky and falls as a solid mass,
our awe is none the less, but our curiosity is largely satisfied; the
meteorite has told us one of the tales of other worlds than ours.
        
                                                                Henry A.
Ward
Received on Thu 07 Sep 2006 08:39:14 PM PDT