A COSMIC ROVER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2561, 15 April 1903, Page 72

A COSMIC ROVER.

By a. Bankeb.

A few evening 3 ago the writer was fortunato in witnessing a most remarkable tnd Brilliant sample of .hose erratic wanderers of the tethei which from time to time come within the range of our atmosphere. He first observed it in the zenith, travelling from the direction of the great glowing star Capella, whose scintillating fires waned nd paled in comparison, with the dazzling brightness of thk coamio rovei, and although it would be exaggeration tc describe it as sven half M large as the moon, ye* its metallic, azure-white fires were far more intense and vivid than the placid, tranquil lustre of out satellite. The head of the meteor appeared to be more oviform than globular, ana behind it streamed a long burning train or "tail,' quite ten or eleven degrees in length, evidently formed of th incandescent detritus, oi scorise, thrown off in the process of combustion. In the cpunw cf its flight, however, larger red-hot fragments wei frorr time to time cast off. which apparently retained their incandescenc ioi aa period. The meteoi, though probably speeding along at forty oi tnorr miles : second, appeared to sail with a slow and majestic movement acrosf the s-tar-li' vault of heaven, and to at length, as it again emerged from the comparatively denser layers of our atmosphere, part from _ ifo. streaming red-hot train, soon to disappear into the void of space. Now, as these roaming celestial wanderers, from time to time succumb to the attraction of gravitation and plunge down m the earth, we know that thej are principally composed of iron, magnesium, and silica (the preseno of magnesium in considerable proportion was clearly indicated in the meteor undei consideration by th distinctly© hue of the combustion), and are occasionally many tons in weight, though the so-called* "shooting staTs" — which, at times present sxich a startling spectacle, the grea display of 186 C appearing as if the whole starry universe were falling— are believed to be but fragments not more than a few ounces in weight, similar and possibly even identical with the small crystallised spheroids of pyrites — the "thundeibolts"— which ar so frequently, found embedded in the chalk.

The meteoi in question, however, mus+ have weighed very many tons, and perhaps it is fortunatt that it did not strike us And doubtless it will contnnia •.ra-vellisg through th© ages, thousand? of miles a minute, perhaps deep into the abyss of space, until it -ventually plunges into one of the <?reat burning suns of some far-off constellation.

How magnificent is the Great Universe, and! what a variety oi orbs are clustered therein— from the mighty blazing suns, to the insignificant "shooting star. ' And yet He who created! them all visited us in humility ti make a propitiation foi our sins. And thoa< who go ia Him, the Saviour, in faith, accepting Him aa their Redeemer, and conforming thei. lives ta His laws, will insure admission into the supernal glorie. of that Grea* Central Realm whence all the universes are governed.

Mr THOS. M'GUIRE, Wellstown, Ohio', writes: "Jayne's Expectorant cuied mo of A' SEVERE COUGH after all our doctors had failed."