‘Get it! He’ll get it as sure as fate,’ Harry said, intervening. ‘But why are you so anxious he should take it?’
‘Why, because, then, Marian would get married, of course, and come out with him to live in Trinidad. Wouldn’t that be charming!’
‘If they do,’ Harry said quietly, ‘and if you’re going to be there, too, Miss Dupuy, I declare I shall come out myself on purpose to visit them.’
DESERT DUST.
The visitor to the Egyptian Pyramids who gazes in wonder on those colossal structures which remain to attest the activity of races long since passed away, little dreams, perhaps, that in the dust which he treads beneath his feet, or which whirls in wind-tossed eddies round his head, there exist particles of so great antiquity, that the vast age of the Pyramids shrinks into littleness beside it. Such particles also may be found by the traveller in the snows which cover the higher slopes of Mont Blanc, and on other parts of the earth’s surface.
The question arises, What are these particles which thus lie unnoticed in the dust beneath our feet, and which are fraught with such interest to mankind? Dust from the Sahara Desert, or from the upper slopes of Mont Blanc, is found to contain an appreciable quantity of magnetic iron particles. Examination by the microscope reveals the fact that the greater part of these are angular in shape, and there can be no doubt that they are simply the debris of terrestrial magnetic rocks. But here and there are found mingled with the other particles small but perfect spheres of iron, their spherical condition pointing to the fact that they have at some time been in a state of fusion. In speculating concerning their origin we are at the outset reduced to three possibilities—they may be of volcanic origin, or the product of fusion in terrestrial fires, or they may have a non-terrestrial origin, and be meteoric. A comparison with dust known to be volcanic discovers that these particles have little or no affinity with volcanic ejections. But the smoke which issues from the chimneys of our manufacturing districts contains iron particles similar in appearance to these iron particles of the Sahara and Mont Blanc; and although these latter are found far from any of the terrestrial sources which could give them birth, yet these light particles may be wafted by wind-currents to such immense distances, that this argument does not come with much strength to support the contention of their non-terrestrial origin.
The most crucial test is that of comparative chemical analysis; and its application to various of these iron particles reveals the fact, that whilst those known to be of terrestrial origin contained neither nickel nor cobalt, both these metals are found present in the magnetic particles collected at the observatory of Saint Marie du Mont, on Mont Blanc; and a meteoric origin has therefore been assigned to the latter. Nor is other proof wanting to support this presumption. In addition to these particles of cosmic dust, larger masses forming meteorites are not unfrequently found. Their general appearance is that of a dull black, but occasionally shining black, irregular exterior, forming a thin crust, which is totally different from the main mass within. Examined microscopically, the crust, which is usually one-hundredth, but may occasionally rise to one-eightieth, of an inch in thickness, is found to be a true black glass, filled with small bubbles, sharply divided from the interior—facts which indicate that the crust is due to igneous action, under conditions which have little or no influence within the mass. The interior usually consists of a stony mass formed of broken or angular particles. Here we have two alternatives—either it has been formed by aqueous deposition, or it has had an igneous origin. The latter, or fiery, origin is again believed to be the true one, for the reason, that certain microscopic characters always present in water-deposited crystalline masses are not seen in these meteorites; and an igneous non-terrestrial, rather than an igneous terrestrial, origin is assigned to them, because the glassy spherical structure found in meteorites can only be produced terrestrially by a combination of conditions very rarely found co-existent. The only instance known where such a combination obtains is in the crater of Kilauea, where the volcanic production known as Pele’s Hair somewhat resembles the glassy structure of meteorites. Nor is this all; for, knowing as we do that meteors occasionally reach the earth in the form of substantial masses, the suggestion has been ventured that they fall in sufficient numbers to affect its bulk in the course of ages; and assuming, as we are entitled to assume, that these masses, to which we are unable to assign definitely a meteoric origin, are indeed meteorites, the link connecting them with cosmic (non-terrestrial) dust has then been found. M. Tissandier examining dust which he detached from the surface of a Bohemian meteorite, found its microscopic characters to resemble those of the dust-particles of Mont Blanc; and even more proof is not wanting to vindicate its non-terrestrial origin.
The connection between cosmic dust and meteors having been thus traced, we may now proceed to a brief consideration of their history ere they find a grave in the earth.
On a calm clear night, when above us gleams
The sky