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

[MARK BOSTICK]

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.

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