G
TIIE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, NOVEMBER 20, 1921
1
M R . I 66 P H - n tTr oo t n n n , - - -
How me Tbavenfy limns WI .f .r
Oosnloard the LcKkirv 1
Z f A Hailstorm of Meteors . - j '
A , 7 May Shower Us When -H ;
J . . I We Begin Crossing the j j
';.,- Pathof Biela s Big Comet 1 ! j
::;r - on November 27 Hm I
id- . - V . . r'aP) ' -tsr : I f. V
I " f?0x Av 5 -vs"--'"- - . " i
meteor .warm the ..n .how. r ""-1 v.lijf -f 1 f - fc x.Vl , " W. 1
it re.en.Me. . comet. 4 j . . vfe: K' ' V ' 1 " f Z
L.. , Jwt!LJw.J....w--- " itCC' ii -2. ,,':'' , V -k f - . - . vi
- r- -V lfCW y ) '
An urtlat'a conception of how the
particles
BY LATIMER J. WILSON.
EAtvi.fi. "b aooui to enter
rase of the great guna
la's comet. The date tha
Tl ARTH 's about to enter the bar
ns of Bie-
that science
fixes la November 27. This will be
the first time the terrestrial ball
baa run the gauntlet of the comet's
fusllade since 1872, and scientists all
over the world are awaiting the or
deal with great Interest.
Biela's comet, a BCient'st at the
American Museum of Natural History
Informed me. Is the original "heaven
ly twins." It got that sobriquet by
splitting In the middle some years
ago and thereby creating as much
sensation among astronomers as the
"heavenly twins" of New York, who.
SO years ago. first introduced the
woman with the bloomers by appear-
ng on a tandem clad In those ideal
articles of apparel for the cycle path.
While the man In the street con
templates the possibility of the prox
imity of Biela's comet with a sneak
ing feeling of dire happenings, the
cold and calculating scientists, such
' as Curator of Geology E. O. Hovey of
the museum, count much on a lucky
arrival that may furnish more op
portunity for meteorological investi
gation than the mighty sections of
comets now at the museum, which are
reproduced on this page.
"Biela's" began as a comet, and is
one of the best proofs, that a comet
Is largely composed of small bodies,
fragments of stone and iron. On
February 27, 1827. Biela discovered a
comet which was found to be identi
cal with that of 1772 and 1805. It
was not one of the largest comets,
but Its periodic returns were watched
with much Interest. In the return of
1832 great excitement .was caused by
the announcement that the head of
Biela's comet would occupy the plane
of the earth's orbit directly In the
course of the earth's passage. The
people thought a collision with the
body was inevitable, and an extraor
dinary sensational comet scare pre
vailed. Then it was announced that
the comet would occupy this posi
tion about a month before the earth
got to the place. By that time a dis
tance of fully 0,000,000 miles would
separate us from a possible collis'on.
But a series of remarkable events
were to follow. In 1845 the orderly
return of "Biela" was observed and
very telescopic eye was turned upon
it. Nothing unusual happened until
Che following January, 1846, when the
comet suddenly split In two. By
February the two separate comets
had drifted 149,000 miles apart! A
sort of filmy bridge of light con
nected the two 'bodies.
In September, 1852, Biela's "twins"
came baok to visit us. By this time
the'y were lO.OOO-miles apart. There
had been no apparent reason for the
splitting of the comet into two sep-"
arate mafises. and the event ranks
with astronomical mysteries. Strang-
er thangs were yet to happen. The
twins were eagerly looked for at the
time of their next favorable return.
But they failed to appear, and a vala
earth will pin throosh the flyins
of Blela.
search was kept
1872. 1877. 1886.
The course of Biela's comet Inter
sects the orbit of the earth at a point
which Is reached by the earth on the
27th of each November. According to
the calculations, the head of the comet
In 1872. had It been observed, would
have passed this point 12 weeks be
fore the earth reached the crossing.
Instead of being presented with a
sight of the comet, on the night of
November 27, 1872, there occurred one
of the most remarkable meteoric dis
plays ever witnessed. The rain of
shooting stars began at 7 o'clock in
the evening and lasted until after
midnight. It Is estimated that fully
160,000 meteoric masses fell into the
earth's atmosphere during the show-
er. They all came from a point in
the sky near the bright star Gamma
of the constellation Andromeda. talnty claimed as a part of Biela's ly in the form of graphite. A frag
In 1885 there was another brilliant lost comet. But with reasonable as- ment of the original mass weighing
rain of "Blelids," so-called because sumption the Mazapll meteorite can about two-tenths of a pound is kept
their orbit has been Identified with be asserted to belong to the shower in the Natural History Museum at
the orbit of the former . comet of of Blelids. The mass when picked New York city. It Is strange Indeed
Biela. During the display of 1885 a
fiery mass larger than the ' other
shooting stars plunged with an ex
plosion Into the atmosphere. Unfor
tunately no one recorded its exact
path. This fact prevents the com
plete identification of the meteoric
mass which reached the ground at
Mazapll, Mexico, from being with cer-
THE RULE
(Continued From Pare 3.)
beth said that?
lieved It of her.
I wouldn't have be
I'm surprised at her.
I'm ashamed."
"I offered It to Jim next,
he told
her.
"It would be Jim, of course,
acceded. "It never would be
she
poor
Peter."
"It's got to be Peter or nobody," he
returned. "That's) what's been both
ering me. Mary won't budge any
more than Elizabeth will. The only
one ofem that's willlngXto consider
it at all is Ruth." -
"Willing to consider it!" cried hi
s
wife, amazed. "As ' if It wouldn't be
the most wonderful thing that could
happen to any one! To move to Chi
cago and see all those great houses
along -the lake, and go to all those
theaters and concerts, and," shs
ceased for lack of breath. Then, her
eyes flashing:
"John, what's the matter with our
girls?"
"The matter Is that they're a bunch
of molluscs," he returned bitterly.
"They're satisfied."
"And you're not," he returned
quickly. "That's the difference. Why
don't you go yourself?"
"Do you really mean that?" he de-
manded.
"I should rather think I did mean
It," she returned. "Why, it's the
chance of a lifetime! If you don't see
It, you're blind."
T do it," fee cried "I iiave seen
up In 1859. 1866. ",t,' -- C " i.fiMl'
ill jr VV 7 v r X
L
AboTe How one heavenly visitor, the
now at the American Museum of
up weighed 8.7 pounds. It consists
of Iron and nickel in which are en
crusted small masses of graphite.
Pure carbon exists In meteors in
two natural forms, one of which is
graphite and the other of which is
the diamond. In some meteors very
small diamonds are found. In the
Mazlpil meteorite the carbon Is chief-
OF THREE BY ETHEL TRAIN
It all along. It's only the thought of
you that's been holding me back. I've
been waiting all my life for the op
portunity to get out of here, but I
thought It had come too late."
"It's never too late," she retorted,
her look full of. fire, "unless you're
dead."
"Janet!" be exclaimed In unfeigned
admiration. "What a wonderful wo
man you are!"
"Pooh!" she retorted. "I'm aot sac
rificing anything. , I'm just as crazy
as you are to get away."
He caught her round the waist and
they executed a few dance steps up
and down the room
Releasing her he asked suddenly:
"What'll the girls say?"
She tossed her head.
"They can say what they please,"
she said.
At this crucial moment they heard
footsteps and voices outside.
"There they are how!" exclaimed
Mrs, Farnam. "Wouldn't you know
It? Come to say good-night, I sup
pose." ''Speak of angels " muttered her
husband, with unblushing banality.
He walked to the door and opened
It..
"Back again?" he Inquired blandly.
"Well, well come right In, all of you.
Your mother has something to say."
"To us?" asked Elizabeth, puzzled.
"Why, we've only just left her! What
on earth can It be?"
Her mother's face . was sparkling,
meteor Ahnlghito. compares with a
Natural Hlatory. 9'ote the boys an ugly stowed In the "pocks" of the meteor.
to realize that this small sheet of
iron cut from the meteorite. Is per
haps a "clipping" nipped from Biela's
comet. Think of being able to hold
in one's hand a piece of sure-enough
Is evidence that the return of
a cometary wanderer to the domain
of the sun brings about a disintegra
her eyes were shining, the lamp light
was playing upon her hair.
"Tell us your good news," urged
Ruth. ,
"I'm going away." said Mrs. Far
nam. eagerly. "We're moving to Chi
cago to open the new branch."
She could not have created more of
a sensation If she had said Tlmbuctoo.
They were thunderstruck.
Mary was the first to recover her
self somewhat.
"It's out of the question," he de
clared. Then, piling one tautologized
statement upon another In her ex-
citernent: "It's impossible. It can't be
done."
"Why not?- her mother challenged
her. "What's to prevent?"
"Any one of a thousand things!"
Ruth tried- "In the first place, you'd
have to leave your children behind."
"That's the beet part of it," Inter
posed aher father, tartly, and the pith
of this remark was accentuated by
titters from behind three cigars. All
the girls flushed resentfully.
"We didn't come here to be In
sulted," they declared.
"Don't pay any attention to him,"
soothed their mother. "You know I
wouldn't leave you If you were little,
even for one night. You forget that
you're not children any "more."
"We need you Just as much," de
clared Mary,
"Not quit'
thoughtfully.
ter mother said
Courtesy of American Museum of Natural History.
tall man. Below Photograph of Willamette meteor, the lSli-toa specimen
tion of the mass. If the head, or sot free. - Particles are blown away
nucleus of a comet. Is composed of a by the pressure of sunlight. Eltctrt
swarm of rocks and chunks of metal cal discharges also take place partly
widely separted from each other, because of the presence of material
but brilliantly incandescent with the subjected to the extremes of tern
sun's fires, it is reasonable to as- perature. With all of these forces
sums that continued repetitions of
such violent conditions will eventual
ly cause the comet (o be dispelled
into space. The material of the me
teorites contains imprisoned gases
which are quickly liberated under J
slight increase of temperature. As a
comet nears the sun Its gases are
"But what about your grandchil
dren?" urged Ruth. "They're little,
aren't they?"
"That's different," her mother an
sweredV "They have their own par
ents. I have no real responsibility
toward them."
"There's your church," Mary re
minded her. "You've always been so
active In church work."
"There are . churches In Chicago
too," returned her mother mildly "so
I've heard."
"I can't Imagine you," declared
Elizabeth, "In any other home than
this. To think of you deserting it,
when we were all born here and all
married from here and "
"You didn't stay when something
better offered," interrupted Mrs. Far
nam. "Why should I?"
"What better could offer." her
daughter demanded dramatically,
"than to die where you've lived for so
many years?" -
"I'm not ready to die yet," retorted
Mrs. Farnam.
"Not fcy a long shot," added her
husband, with a' dangerous glint in
his eye.
"This is between ourselves and
mother, father," Elizabeth objected.
k. At this he' detached himself from
the group and, stepping forward, said
authoritatively:
"Not from now on. Here's where
I come In. I've got something to
say."
at work and with the attraction ex
erted by other bodies, by the planets
and the sun, the life of a comet is to
be measured by the frequency of its
returns to perihelion. The short pe
riod comets are generally mere tele
scopic objects.
Biela's romet now is probably
As all eyes turned upon him no one
failed to be Impressed by the earnest
ness of his tone. Standing in the
midst -of his family, he towered head
and shoulders above them all. His
bearing, his vitality and his height
all contributed to make him an Im
pressive and dignified old man whose
words carried weight.
"Before you begin to talk about
your mother's dying," he said, sweep
ing his three daughters with an in
clusive and scornful glance, "you'd
better give her a chance to live. She
hasn't had that yet, you know, even
if she Is nearly 60 years old. In my
opinion it's high time she did."
All three of the Farnam girls had
paled at his Implication. Ruth started
to speak, but her father prevented
her by a lift of his hand.
"Don't interrupt me," he continued
"It won't he my fault If you don't un
derstand me clearly by trie time I'm
through. Ever since you were ola
enough to have any say at all you've
been cramping your mother's style.
She was Just a mother to you not
a human being. You never saw her
In any social relations; you've kept
her so surrounded with yourselves
that she never could make any
friends. You've talked a lot about
doing your duty, but half of your at
tentlon to your mother came from a
desire to be pointed out as model
daughters in the town. People fell
for It, I admit: they didn't see In de
tail what that attention consisted In;
how you dictated to her what she
should, do and read and wear; how
you bored her to distraction, how
E. O. Hover, curator of areoloay at
the American Museum of Natural
history, rxamlnlnjr a piece of Biela's
comet.
spread out over a great part of its
orbit. It probably today consists
merely of a vast conglomeration of
debris stony masses and masses of
metallic materials. As time goes on
and perturbation effects are pro
duced upon this mass, changes In its
condition result. Perhaps "The earth
will some day plunge through a
thlcker part of the ruins. If so, we
shall again witness a magnificent
display of shooting stars. Possibly
a few large chunks of the ancient
comet will reach the ground.
There Is evidence that at least one
great meteor, ages ago, came down
from the sky and embedded itself Into
the soil. At Canyon Diablo, Arizona,
there 's to be seen a curious crater
like formation which has mystified
scientists. The best explanation of
It is the assumption that It was pro
duced by a huge meteoric mass fall
ing from the sky. As this great mass
of metal plunged Into the earth It
generated steam in the moist soil and
caused an explosion which turned up
ward the surrounding strata of rock.
Fragments of meteoric Iron fused
with the native rock have been found.
In this meteoric Iron have been dis
covered the largest number of the
microscopic diamonds character's! lc
of meteorites.
This fact has led to the drilling of
a series of shafts in the bottom of
the crater in an effort to reach the
original meteoric mass. Several thou
sand feet have been probed Into the
earth without result. No meteorlt
has been found except the small frag
ments which exist on the surface.
If a large mass, one of several
thousand feet diameter, should come
Into the atmsnphere with the speed
of the other Blelids, it would be a
catastrophe. Traveling at 40 to 44
miles a second it wTu!d plunge Into
our atmospheric ocean with an effect
of concussion that would reach around
the world. In a wide radius every
living thing would perish. Animal
life could not withstand the con
cussion of so terrible an aerial depth
bomb. We would perish like the fish
in a pond when a stick of dynamite
is exploded In it. Houses would be
shaken down In distant cities. The
explosion of Krakatoa in 1883 would
be a mere nothing in comparison, yet
the atmospheric waves of this vol
canic explosion were felt around the
world.
Jf a meteoric stone having about
3.5 the density of water and of about
eight inches diameter plunges Into
the atmosphere at a velocity of 31
miles a second, the sudden heat de
veloped amounts to 4,307,0 00 calories.
At the height of less than 96 miles
its speed would have been retarded to
about half a mile a second. This is
how the atmosphere saves us from
the fury of these ordinary bullets and
torpedoes from outside space.
shamelessly you Intruded on our mar
ried life, robbing us of our time (a
valuable commodity nt our age) and
of our privacy. It's appalling to think
of those Intolerable, wasted evenings,
of the reading we might have done,
the companionship we might have en
Joyed! "You always said you didn't want
to neglect us you never realized that
we'd have given our eye teeth for a
little Judicious neglect! We stood all
that we'd have gone on standing It
if you hadn't begun to talk about
where your mother ought to die. That
was a little too much. Supposing she
were to give in to you and stay here.
Instead of dying In her bed she might
bo knocked down by a trolley car to
morrow end draw her last breath in
the rug store up the street. You
won't understand that It isn't where
you die that matters, nor even where
you live, but how you live in,
whether you live at all "
Ruth had begun to cry.
"I'm beginning to understand," she
sobbed.
"I am too," admitted Klizabeth.
"So am I. Thank you, father," said
Mary. ,
Their father's glance softened.
There was something In these girls
after all.
"If you'll only stay," promised
Ruth, "everything will be altogether
different from now on."
Their mother stretched out her
arms to them, Jut as she had when
they were little girls.
"You be the one to tell us what to