[meteorite-list] Scientific American Archives 1845-1909 available until November 30, 2011
From: karmaka <karmaka-meteorites_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 06 Nov 2011 13:09:53 +0100 Message-ID: <1RN1Xt-0Efdmi0_at_fwd12.aul.t-online.de> Dear Mark and list members, It's always interesting and amusing to read what people in the past thought about the origin of meteorites. Here some examples from 19th Century editions of 'Scientific American': In 1848 C.U. Shepard believed in the terrestrial origin of meteorites. Meteorites were believed to rain down from metallic meteoric dust clouds in the upper atmosphere because of the influence of magnetic storms. The dust clouds were thought to have formed from ashes and terrestrial matter which had 'mechanically' been 'elevated' by volcanoes and tornadoes. http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v4/n12/pdf/scientificamerican12091848-94b.pdf (Scientific American, 9 Dec 1848) In 1876 Proctor believed that iron meteorites were ejected from a sun during solar outbursts whereas Moigno believed them to be remains of ancient 'used-up worlds'. "It may be, as Mr. Proctor has suggested, that some of them, the siderites es? pecially, have been ejected from our own or some other sun, by some of those tremendous outbursts of solar energy which we occasionally observe with our spectroscopes ; or they may have originated, as Moigno argues, in the cracking to pieces of some old and used-up world." (from Scientific American, 19 August 1876 ; http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v35/n8/pdf/scientificamerican08191876-119a.pdf ) 'Old worlds' indeed, but not 'used-up'... Unfortunately there is one truly 'used-up world' in the solar system ... our own. Furthermore, 19th Century comparisons are amusing, like these ones: white as chalk, black as coal aaaaand .... Orgueil is 'a mass of rather coherent garden soil' "The aerolite of Bishopsville, S. C., though covered with the invariable black crust, is internally almost as white as chalk, and as light as pumice ; that of Kold Bokkeveld,South Africa, on the other hand, resembles a piece of anthracite coal more than any? thing else; and that of Orgueil, a mass of rather coherent garden soil." Must be the most expensive 'garden soil' in the universe.... Unfortunately many (carbonaceous) meteorites end up becoming soil when plowed under in the fields because they couldn't be found quickly enough. This might have happened to the potential Geislingen meteorites which my German meteorite friends and me were eagerly trying to find in January ... in vain. (Well, not 'in vain' actually because although we didn't find meteorites, we found new friends and experienced cooperation and community ... thus immaterial gratification ... priceless !!!) Too often meteorites are not found (on time) because important information does not flow freely to those (not primarily driven by the 'profit motive') enthusiasts who are willing to spend their time and energy on finding the freshly fallen specimens before planet earth's aggressive oxygen and humidity start their attack on the stony or iron 'aliens'. It's always an unbearable thought that freshly fallen meteorites in developed countries just rot away unnoticed because some people are not willing to cooperate for a 'higher meteoritic goal' ... but that is another never-ending story. Have a nice Sunday while scanning the archives for interesting articles! There is much more to be rediscovered... Martin Von: "Mark Grossman" <markig at westnet.com> An: <karmaka-meteorites at t-online.de>, <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com> Betreff: Re: [meteorite-list] Scientific American Archives 1845-1909 available until November 30, 2011 Datum: Sun, 06 Nov 2011 10:05:16 +0100 Thanks so much to both Martins for the kind words in the two messages posted this evening. It's a pleasure doing the research and sharing the findings. If anyone finds any interesting or special articles in Scientific American that they would like to share, feel free to post a comment at the end of the Meteorite Manuscripts blog post. Thanks again for the nice words. And if you're interested in the Scientific American articles, remember - the articles are only free until the end of the month! Mark PS - I hope to be posting some manuscript letters again in the near future. Mark Grossman Meteorite Manuscripts http://meteoritemanuscripts.blogspot.com http://twitter.com/MetManuscripts http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Meteorite-Manuscripts/152949358073543?sk=wall ----- Original Message ----- From: To: "Mark Grossman" ; Sent: Sunday, November 06, 2011 3:57 AM Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Scientific American Archives 1845-1909 available until November 30, 2011 > Hello Mark, > > I think I can say this on behalf of many list members. > > Thank you once again for the valuable information you share with us. > > It is, as always, much appreciated! > > Keep up the good work! > > Martin > > > Von: "Mark Grossman" > An: > Betreff: [meteorite-list] Scientific American Archives 1845-1909 available > until November 30, 2011 > Datum: Sun, 06 Nov 2011 02:21:33 +0100 > > If you would like to learn more about free access to Scientific American > articles, some of which are useful to those interested in the history of > meteorites, see the Meteorite Manuscripts blog by clicking on one of the > links below. > > Thanks! > > Mark > > Mark Grossman > Meteorite Manuscripts > > http://meteoritemanuscripts.blogspot.com > http://twitter.com/MetManuscripts > http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Meteorite-Manuscripts/152949358073543?sk=wall > > ______________________________________________ > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- > Postfach fast voll? Jetzt kostenlos E-Mail Adresse _at_t-online.de sichern > und endlich Platz f?r tausende Mails haben. > http://www.t-online.de/email-kostenlos > > ---------------------------------------------------------------- Postfach fast voll? Jetzt kostenlos E-Mail Adresse _at_t-online.de sichern und endlich Platz f?r tausende Mails haben. http://www.t-online.de/email-kostenlos Received on Sun 06 Nov 2011 07:09:53 AM PST |
 StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit Yahoo MyWeb
|