Various have been the conjectures relative to the cause and origin of the meteoric stones, or fire balls, which have been known to fall to the earth, in all ages, and in various parts of the world. Some have imagined them to be precipitated from a comet or some of the planets; others that they come from the moon; and Captain Symmes's opinion, I believe, is that they are formed isolated in space by spontaneous accumulations, as by attracting molecules of matter at first in a fluid state, which afterwards solidifies by heat or motion. But come from whence they may, they are said to be constituted of a substance unknown to our geologists; and in several instances the fragments have been ascertained to consist of pieces, some of which have concave and some convex surfaces, affording a certain proof that previous to their descent, they had been constituted of hollow spheres.
Professor Silliman, of Yale college, has preserved some of the fragments of one of these fire balls; and in his valuable journal, has given the public an able description of the facts which occurred, when they fell. This fire ball fell in the state of Connecticut, in the year 1807, producing three distinct reports, like a cannon, making three convulsive leaps or throes in its course, which were simultaneous no doubt with the explosions, becoming less luminous after each, and being quite extinguished at the third. Three showers of stones fell to the earth in a line with its course; the second shower fell five miles distant from the first, and the last three or four miles from the second. Some of the fragments were found to be concave, others convex, and especially on those sides of the fragments which were glazed with sooty crusted surface, as if vitrified.
These phenomena are precisely such as would occur, supposing the fire ball to have been a small satellite, or erratic planet, at first fluid, which had become so condensed by the increased action of terrestrial gravity, occasioned by its sudden approach, as to cause its fluid parts to chrystalize and form into, at least, three concentric spheres; and the latent heat and light set free by such rapid condensation as to produce the meteoric flame; which in this case was almost equal in light to that of the sun at mid-day. As soon as the spheres became sufficiently solidified to prevent the heated aerial fluid, contained in the mid-plane cavities of the spheres, from passing out with freedom, when expanded by the heat; or let the atmospheric air pass in, in case a condensation within afforded a vacuum; the solid crusts of the spheres would be disruptured successively one after the other; lose their regular rotation, and fall in fragments to the earth. The fall of this body is not a solitary instance of the kind: others have fallen in many parts of the earth, attended with phenomena more or less the same.
On the 16th of January, 1818, in Florida, near Mobile bay, a fire ball bursted with a considerable report. Immediately before the explosion, it was observed to project a cone of fire from each pole horizontally and at right angles with its course. Its bursting like a bomb-shell, indicated that it must have been hollow; and the two cones of light which appeared, beside its train, showed that it was open at the poles.
Turn your attention to the general economy of nature throughout her works, and you will perceive in various and almost innumerable substances that she forms hollow cylinders or spheres in the room of solid ones. Enquire of the botanist, and he will tell you that the plants which spring up spontaneously, agreeable to the established laws of nature, are hollow cylinders. If a hollow globe would answer the ends of supporting organic life as well as a solid one—why not be hollow, as well as a stalk of wheat? or by what laws is the stalk of wheat governed, that it should always grow hollow? What law in nature causes the quills and feathers of a bird to be hollow cylinders? Why are they not solid? I presume it is for this plain reason, that nature, throughout all her works, has wisely assigned to every thing just matter enough for strength and usefulness; and has in no case overburthened it with unnecessary and cumbrous weight.
Enquire of the anatomist, and he will tell you that the large bones of all animals are hollow, and particularly that the bones of birds are more than ordinarily so: even the minutest hairs of our heads are hollow.
Go to the mineralist, and he will inform you that the stone called Ærolites, and many other mineral bodies, are composed of hollow concentric circles; and, that strata of different kinds abound in various mineral substances. Even the earth itself is composed, as geologists tell us, of various strata, composed of different substances, and varying from one degree of density to another. If every part of our globe be regulated according to the received laws of gravity, and the relative density of matter, why do we find almost all over the world, light alluvial soil in the vallies and plains; and on the tops of the highest mountains, the more heavy granite, and some of the heaviest substances that nature knows? We can hardly indulge the thought that all this is the work of volcanic eruptions or some dread throe of nature.
However, if we direct our attention alone to those general laws which are known, and which are believed to govern matter, I apprehend it would be very difficult to account for the creation of worlds, and the admirable arrangement which subsists throughout the universe. To account for every thing, either according to the old or new theory, would be attempting too much. It would be placing the Deity in some corner of the universe an idle spectator, whilst matter governed by its own laws, was forming itself into worlds and systems; the bare thought of which is irreverent. Is the existence of matter owing to some other first cause, or did matter create itself, and impress upon itself the laws which govern it? Such an idea is absurd. We might as well imagine that matter created God, as itself. By attempting to trace every effect to some natural cause, is attempting to do more than we shall ever be able to accomplish. Such a course of reasoning must lead us to the conclusion that there is no God, or first cause; or, at least, to what would be nearly the same thing, that there is no need of one.
But in reasoning upon this subject, I take it for granted, that there is a God, and that he is the first cause of all things, the creator of all the orbs in the universe, be they either solid globes or concentric spheres; and I hope such is the reader's belief. And I cannot discover in this any thing derogatory from His infinite power, wisdom, or divine economy, in the formation of a hollow world and concentric spheres, any more than in that of solid ones. I should rather be of opinion, that a construction of all the orbs in creation, on a plan corresponding with Symmes's theory, would display the highest possible degree of perfection, wisdom, and goodness—the most perfect system of creative economy—and, (as Dr. Mitchill expresses it) a great saving of stuff.