[footnote] *"It appears that an apparently inexhaustible number of bodies,
too small to be observed, are moving in the regions of space, either around
the Sun or the planets, or perhaps even around their satellites. It is
supposed that when these bodies come in contact with our atmosphere, the
difference between their velocity and that of our planet is so great, that
the friction which they experience from their contact with the air heats
them to incandescence, and sometimes causes their explosion. If the group
of falling stars form an annulus around the Sun, its velocity of circulation
may be very different from that of our Earth; and the displacements it may
experience in space, in consequence of the actions of the various planets,
may render the phenomenon of its intersecting the planes of the ecliptic
possible at some epochs, and altogether impossible at others." -- Poisson,
'Recherches sur la Probabilit?? des Jugements', p. 306, 307.
The solid masses which are observed by night to fall to the earth from
fire-balls, and by day generally when the sky is clear, from a cark small
cloud, are accompanied by much candescence. They undeniably exhibit a great
degree of general identity with respect to their external form, the
character of their crust, and the chemical composition of their principal
constituents.
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