Page:In the high heavens.djvu/323

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VISITORS FROM THE SKY.
319


Fig. 38.—Slab of Crystallised Iron cut from the Aerolite of Lenarto, Hungary.

actually observed in the Straits of Sunda in 1883, it is not at all unlikely that many bodies would be shot away from the moon altogether.

So far, however, as the descent of meteorites to the surface of this earth is concerned, it is not alone sufficient to inquire whether these bodies can have left the parent world; it is further necessary to examine the circumstances under which a missile projected from some other globe shall tumble down on this one. This is a point that has been sometimes not sufficiently attended to by those who have considered the matter. It has been thought that as the volcanoes on the moon have been in all probability potent enough formerly, it is therefore reasonable enough to look to them as the source of meteorites. But a little further examination will show that though missiles might undoubtedly have left the moon owing to projection from lunar volcanoes, yet, that