Alexandria Gazette & Daily Advertiser

From the Cherry Valley Gazette
March 12.
The Meteor.—On Saturday evening
last about ten o'clock, a Meteor of very
considerable magnitude, was seen in the
heavens, at this place. Its general appearance was globular and uncommonly
luminous, it moved with great velocity from northeast to Southwest, and on
its disappearance its explosion was distinctly heard. It was visible for a considerable number of seconds, during
which time its light penetrated all our
windows, and caused many persons by
its brightness involuntarily to close their
eyes; it shone during its continuance
with such a lustre that it completely eclipsed the lights of fires and candles, so
much so that they appeared to be as useless for the purpose of light as they
would be at noonday.
It is probable from the appearance of
this meteor that its explosion was followed by fragments of stones or metallic
substances, which must have struck
the earth to a considerable distance westerly or southwesterly from here.
It is known that these fiery or luminous meteors generally, when they explode, discharge substances of this kind.
and that they have been common in all
ages of the world. These Stony or metallic substances are called by the modern meteorologists meteorites, and perhaps a very brief epitome of their history will not be unacceptable.
In the 11th v. of the 10th ch. of Joshua
mention is made of great stones being
cast from heaven—whether, however
this alludes to stones or substances like
these we are now considering, has been
by learned men, theologians and others
questioned. In the testament we read of
the image which the Ephesians supposed
fell down from Jupiter, and some commentators assure us that this image was
merely a conical stone from the clouds.
If we turn from sacred to profane history, we shall find copious accounts of
these phenomena.
Between the year 1478 before the
coming of Christ and his advent, in the
time of Cesar, there are twenty eight instances recorded of these meteoric stones falling to the earth. And since the commencement of the christian era, nearly
100 cases have been mentioned. They
have fallen in various parts of Europe
Asia and America. And no doubt many more have fallen at sea and in the
uninhabited parts of the globe or in countries where letters do not exist.
The following is an analysis of one of
these stones:
Various fanciful theories has been
proposed on the subject of these meteorites. One is, that some lesser planet
has exploded, when its cohesion was
overcome by the explosive force, and
the smaller fragments thrown beyond
the power of attraction of the larger
fragments, would fall to the earth, if
Mars should happen to be in a remote
part of his orbit. Others suppose them
to be formed from vapor, which in its
ascent from the earth becomes ignited
or set on fire by some chemical or electrical process in the atmosphere.
A very remarkable luminous meteor
was seen near L'Aigle, in France, in
the year 1803. A globe of fire of uncommon splendor was seen moving towards the north. There was heard at
L'Aigle and for thirty leagues round in
every direction, a violent explosion
which lasted five or six minutes. This
was followed by a noise like the discharge of musketry, succeeded by a
rumbling like the beat of a drum.—
From this meteor there was discharged
a shower of stones, the largest of which
weighed 173 lbs.
It is to be hoped that the editors of
papers will be very particular in their
notices of this meteor which was seen
on Saturday evening, in order that it
may be ascertained how large an expanse was illuminated by it, and the
place where the stones must have struck
the earth, if any were discharged from
it.

Silica	55 parts
Lime	14 do
Magnesia	12 do
Oxide of iron	30 do
Nickel	24 do
Sulphur	3-5 do