If the existence of thunder-stones was regarded as doubtful at a time when physicists had scarcely any idea of the nature of thunder, it is even less admissible to-day, when modern physicists have discovered the effects of this natural phenomenon are the same as those of electricity. There is no record that the fulgarite, the fused sand or rock struck by the lightning, has ever been used.
The opinion which seems the most probable to us, and that which is most in accord with the accepted principles of physics as well as with the facts reported by Abbé Bacheley, and our own investigation, is that the stone was originally covered with a slight crust of earth and turf, and was struck by lightning and so made visible.
Chladni reports in a pamphlet published in 1794 that the mass of meteoric iron discovered by Dr. Pallas in Siberia, and known as the Pallas or Krasnojarsk iron meteorite, was regarded by the Tartars as a sacred object which had fallen from heaven.[[176]] As it is somewhat unlikely that this belief could be accounted for by an ancient tradition, we must seek an explanation in the conviction among primitive peoples that any mass of rock or metal of unusual appearance and differing notably from the surrounding formations must have come from the sky. In this way primitive instinct often anticipates the results of modern scientific investigation. This siderite, of irregular form and weighing some 1500 pounds, was seen by Dr. Pallas in 1772, and deposited by him in 1776; he learned that it had been found in 1749 at the summit of a mountain situated between Krasnojarsk and Abakansk, by a Cossack. Most of this famous siderite is preserved in the St. Petersburg Museum.
A singular circumstance in regard to the fall of a meteor, and one that in ancient times would have been explained in a miraculous way, is that during the desperate and bloody battle of Borodino, won by Napoleon over the Russians, September 6, 1812, a meteorite is said to have fallen near the headquarters of the Russian general. This would certainly have been regarded—after the event—as a manifestation of divine wrath, and hence a prognostic of the Russian defeat. However, had the French been defeated, the meteorite would have been looked upon as a sign of divine favor, and it would have been honored and reverenced. In modern times the natural phenomenon is taken for what it is worth, and the only interest excited is a purely scientific one.
Of all the meteorites that have been discovered, the most remarkable are undoubtedly those found at Melville Bay, about 35 miles east of Cape York, West Greenland, in 1894, by Admiral, then Lieutenant, Robert E. Peary, and brought by him to the United States in 1895 and 1897.[[177]] They are now to be seen in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. The first report of the existence of meteoric iron in the vicinity came from Captain Ross, who in 1818 was given two iron knives, or lance-heads, by some Eskimo of Regent’s Bay. An analysis of the metal revealed the presence of nickel and immediately suggested a meteoric origin of the material; nothing more definite could be learned at the time from the Eskimo than that the metal had been taken from an “iron mountain” not far away. In 1840, the King of Denmark, whose interest had been aroused in the matter, authorized the sending out of an expedition to seek for the suspected siderites, but the search proved unsuccessful; a later attempt made by the officers of the North Star, a Franklin relief ship, in 1849–50, also failed. For a time the determination of the telluric origin of the supposed siderites discovered at Ovifak, Disko Island, West Greenland, by Baron N. A. E. Nordenskiold in 1870, cast some doubt upon the true meteoric character of the iron of which the Cape York knives had been made, and rather discouraged further searches. It was not until 1894 that these extraordinary masses of meteoric iron were at last seen and located by a European, one of the hunters of the Tellikontinah tribe of Smith Sound Eskimos serving as Lieutenant Peary’s guide. The siderites were three in number, the two smaller having been named by the Eskimo “The Dog” and “The Woman,” respectively, while the largest was known as “The Tent.” It now bears the name of Ahnighito, that of the daughter of the explorer.
By courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
“AHNIGHITO,” THE GREAT CAPE YORK METEORITE, WEIGHING MORE THAN 36½ TONS
In the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. Obtained by Admiral Peary.
By courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
“THE WOMAN,” CAPE YORK METEORITE
In the American Museum of Natural History, New York City. Weight 3 tons. Obtained by Admiral Peary.
The two smaller ones reposed loosely upon gneissic rocks, but Ahnighito, found on a small island some six miles away, on a terrace 80 feet above tide-water and about 100 feet from the shore, lay almost buried in rocks and sand.