t with a great rushing and noise.
When found by uncivilised peoples, or savages, they are, on account of
their celestial origin, usually regarded as objects of wonder and of
worship, and thus have arisen many mythological legends and deifications
of blackened stones. On the other hand, when they get into the
possession of the civilised, they are subjected to careful examinations
and tests in chemical laboratories. The bodies are, as a rule, composed
of stone, in conjunction with iron, nickel, and such elements as exist
in abundance upon our earth; though occasionally specimens are found
which are practically pure metal. In the museums of the great capitals
of both Continents are to be seen some fine collections of meteorites.
Several countries--Greenland and Mexico, for instance--contain in the
soil much meteoric iron, often in masses so large as to baffle all
attempts at removal. Blocks of this kind have been known to furnish the
natives in their vicinity for many years with sources of workable iron.

The largest meteorite in the world is one known as the Anighito
meteorite. It was brought to the United States by the explorer Peary,
who found it at Cape York in Greenland. He estimates its weight at from
90 to 100 tons. One found in Mexico, called the Bacubirito, comes next,
with an estimated weight of 27-1/2 tons. The third in size is the
Willamette meteorite, found at Willamette in Oregon in 1902. It measures
10 x 6-1/2 x 4-1/2 feet, and weighs about 15-1/2 tons.

[27] The "gem" of the meteor ring, as it has been termed.

CHAPTER XXII

THE STARS

In the foregoing chapters we have dealt at length with those celestial
bodies whose nearness to us brings them into our especial notice. The
entire room, however, taken up by these bodies, is as a mere point in
the immensities of star-filled space. The sun, too, is but an ordinary
star; perhaps quite an insignificant one[28] in comparison with the
majority of those which stud that background of sky against which the
planets are seen to perform their wandering courses.

Dropping our earth and the solar system behind, let us go afield and
explore the depths of space.

We have seen how, in very early times, men portioned out the great mass
of the so-called "fixed stars" into divisions known as constellations.
The various arrangements, into which the brilliant points of light fell
as a result of perspective, were noticed and roughly compared with such
forms as w