FALLING OF THE STARS IN 1833.
By Uriah Smith
THOUGH enough testimony has already been produced concerning the phenomenon of Nov. 13, 1833, to show that it far surpassed anything of the kind that had ever before been witnessed, and to establish it beyond doubt, as the fulfillment of Matt. xxiv, 29, Rev. vi, 13, &c., yet all will be interested in further particulars concerning it. Too much testimony can hardly be produced in reference to any of those great events, which inspiration has given us as signs of the end of the world, and the coming of the Son of man, and which are designed to arrest the attention of mankind, and arouse them to a preparation for that event. The meteoric shower of 1833, cannot be accounted for on any natural and scientific principles. God, in his word, had said that such a display should be given just before the appearing of the Son of man in glory; and when it did take place by an independent and direct exertion of omnipotent power, manifested because he had said he would do so, for a certain purpose, it became just as plain a declaration that the great day of the Lord was at hand, as though an audible voice from heaven had announced it in the ears of all the earth. Many are the witnesses who have testified that they thought at that time that the last day had come. Why were such thoughts as these connected with this event, unless, because the Saviour had said that such a scene should be witnessed as a sign of his coming? And so the record that thoughts of the Judgment day were at once suggested by the sight, many supposing that it had already come, settles the important fact that that event was in all respects sufficient to answer to the prophecy concerning it. Yet, how many are there now, even of those who witnessed it, into whose minds it ever comes as filling the important place that it does? The worldly and careless, may lose sight of these things, and in the roar of business or the giddy rounds of pleasure, banish from their minds all thoughts of the mighty events now hastening to burst upon us, and of the signs by which they have been heralded. But not so with those who love their Lord and his appearing. They love to hold in memory the fulfillments of his word, and watch for every fresh token of their approaching jubilee. They lift their eyes from the prophetic dial only to raise them to heaven from whence they look for their coming Saviour. Nor will their patience be much longer tested, nor they look in vain for the object of their hope. The following extracts are from some old copies of the Family Magazine, which have accidentally fallen under our notice, published in New York, in the year when the phenomenon occurred, and immediately following that event. A magnificent meteoric display was witnessed in this vicinity early on Wednesday morning. We learn from those whose privilege it was to see it, that the air was literally filled with shooting or falling stars for nearly two hours, say from four until toward six o'clock. They were seen shooting in every direction from a great height, and were falling in a continual brilliant shower toward the earth. As usual in such displays, their size and brilliancy were variable. A teamster who was on the road during the time, compared the scene, in this respect, to a heavy fall of snow, though the luminous bodies moved with incomparably greater celerity. Others say they were visible down to the horizon; some descending obliquely, but more generally in a perpendicular direction, and sometimes tapering off to a narrow stream. We do not learn that the hissing noise which sometimes accompanies these phenomena was heard on this occasion. The boatmen at the wharves, we understand, were greatly terrified at the apparent falling of the heavens. The papers since received from the different sections of the country speak of the atmospherical phenomenon. The Baltimore papers represent it to have been particularly splendid over that city. The American of Thursday says, the meteors were seen soon after midnight, and increased until the heavens were filled in every direction. About half past five, it seemed to197rain fire. An appearance similar to that described by the correspondent of the N. Y. Daily Advertiser was seen coming toward the west till the bright trail formed the figure 3, after which the ends uncurled, turning toward the east till they came together, and after spreading into the appearance of a light cloud, being visible ten minutes, disappeared. Another writer says, the light in his chamber was so great that he could see the hour by his watch over the mantel. Supposing it to be fire, he sprang to the window, and beheld the fiery rain descending south and north, in torrents. Occasionally a large body of apparent fire would be hurled through the atmosphere, which without noise exploded, when millions of fiery particles would be cast through the surrounding air. The shed in his yard seemed covered with stars. The Gazette says, at twenty minutes past five, a meteor about six inches in diameter, probably the same spoken of above, exploded with considerable noise perpendicularly over the N. W. part of the city; the blaze was so splendid as to give the appearance of sunrise. It shot in the direction of the N. W. leaving a stream of light, which seemed a serpentine form, apparently of 30 feet in length, and lasted more than one minute. The same phenomena, though of unequal splendor, were seen at New Haven. The balls were of various sizes and degrees of splendor, mostly mere points. One was judged to be nearly as large as the moon—another shot off to the N. W. precisely as at Baltimore, leaving a phosphorescent train of peculiar beauty; which finally seemed the figure of a serpent folding itself up, until it appeared like a small luminous vapor, and after several minutes, was borne away eastward by the wind. The flashes of light were so bright as to awaken people in their beds. In Philadelphia the scene does not appear to have been so brilliant, or as accurately noted, as in Baltimore and New York. The atmospherical phenomenon was noticed, we learn, in all the towns around us. With one exception, as far as our reading serves, this appears to have been the most remarkable appearance of meteors that has been witnessed. Humboldt speaks of a similar exhibition, which he saw at Cumania, in South America, on the night of the 11th November—one day before the present instance—in 1779. The night had been cool and extremely beautiful: toward morning, thousands of fire-balls succeeded each other during four hours, in a regular direction from north to south. During that period, there was not an instant when any calculable space was not filled with them—most of them leaving luminous traces behind. In the same paper of Dec. 7, 1833, we find the following: One of the most striking and surprising features of the recent meteoric phenomenon, was its vast extent. We hear of it from the very extremities of the Union, from British America, and from a great distance at sea. It remains to be seen whether it was not co-extensive with the shades of night, and whether, therefore, it was not visible to one half of the inhabitants of the globe! So extraordinary was this phenomenon, that we deem it proper to devote ample room to the various descriptions of it as they come in from different and distant quarters. It will be a matter of record on the scientific and the historic page; and it may therefore well claim full notice in our columns. Extracts from various papers follow. A writer in the New York Daily Advertiser, thus describes the appearance on that morning, in this city: “About four o'clock in the morning a large meteoric body, resembling a globe of fire, exploded in the zenith of the heavens, and poured a continuous stream of flaming particles on the sky beneath. The increasing scintillations from this luminous globular body were showered down like drops of falling rain, illuminating the whole visible horizon, and scattering rich rays of light on each airy path as they fell. After this meteoric shower of fiery rain had for some time descended, a luminous serpentine figure was formed in the sky, which, on its explosion, produced a shower of fire equally brilliant and incessant. The inflammable particles then apparently cohering in one ignited mass, rolled up in a ball to the zenith; and from this lofty elevation burst, and shot out streams of electric fire from its luminous orb, which continued to fall until the hour of six in the morning, when the dawning day put an end to their glory and their flight.” From the Newark Sentinel of Freedom. The meteoric phenomena of the 13th were seen through the whole length and breadth of the country, presenting in most places a similar appearance. It is a little remarkable that the Aurora Borealis was observed at Buffalo and at Keene, N. H. as we learn it was, and not elsewhere. In some places the meteors appear to have been seen quite down to the surface of the earth. A correspondent of the N. Y. American, at Acquackanonk, in this county, says they varied in size from the bulk of a pea to that of a walnut, and were of various colors—red, blue, yellow and white. Several came within a foot of the writer's person, and one exploded close to his face, and instantaneously disappeared without any perceptible odor. The Sussex papers describe the exhibition in their vicinity as having been somewhat singular. The people seem to have been much alarmed. They thought that the stars had in reality 'shot madly from their spheres,' and that the whole economy of nature was returning to its original chaos. Daylight, which soon commenced dawning, by eclipsing the more distant stars, served to strengthen the illusion. Nay, so certain was one individual that several stars had actually fallen, that he felt seriously offended at a gentleman who doubted the possibility of such an occurrence. Another person says that he kept his eye upon the morning star, resolved that if that departed, 'he should give up all hope.' Some thought that the world was about to be destroyed—others that the day of judgment was at hand, with many more equally startling apprehensions.” From the Charleston Mercury: Those who were up before the dawn yesterday, witnessed a most glorious sight—one glance at which “were worth ten years of common life.” The temperature of the day before had been oppressive, the mercury ranging as high as 78 degrees. At night the atmosphere became cooler, but not so much as to make a fire necessary for comfort. About 10 o'clock, P. M. shooting stars were observed to succeed each other with unusual frequency, and continued to appear at short intervals during the night; but at about three o'clock in the morning, the wind, which had been from the west, having changed, and blowing with some freshness from the north-east, there was a burst of splendor throughout the firmament, and its entire concave was thronged with innumerable meteors, streaming athwart each other toward the horizon in every quarter, leaving long trains of light, as if millions of rockets were incessantly exploded. The literal showers of stars continued until day-light, the meteors of different size and brilliancy, thick as the leaves in Vallambrosa, or the flakes in a snow storm, falling, shooting, and exploding in glittering confusion, as if the whole starry host were reeling madly from their spheres. While this grand and beautiful spectacle lasted, a permanent light as strong as moonlight was thrown through the windows of our chambers, and although the sky was without a cloud, there were flashes from time to time of the most vivid lightning. The unusual light aroused many from their beds, some supposing that the city was on fire. We learn that a gentleman who was off the bar, mentions that at sea the starry shower commenced so early as nine o'clock P. M. and continued till morning, and that many of the meteors seemed almost to strike the masts of the vessels. One meteor was observed in the north, under remarkable circumstances. Its first appearance was a burst of diverging stars radiating from a common centre; they afterwards re-approached and agglomerated themselves into a nucleus, which slowly moved horizontally, extending itself into a bending bar of light, remained stationary for several minutes, and gradually resumed the form of a single star, and vanished. From the Charleston Courier: We have been informed by Capt. Jackson, of the Revenue Cutter Jackson, who was at sea that night, at the distance of nine miles from the land, that the Heavens were illuminated with the meteors during nearly the whole night, as far as the eye could reach, in every direction: presenting a spectacle of uncommon magnificence and sublimity, attended with frequent explosions resembling the discharge of small arms. We learn also that a meteor of extraordinary size was observed at sea to course the Heavens for a great length of time, and then exploded with a noise of a cannon. Our devotions to the “sleepy god” debarred us the high gratification of being among the privileged spectators of the brilliant exhibition of natural fire works. Effects of the late Meteoric Phenomena.—The editor of the Columbia Spy, in reference to the late remarkable appearance of the heavens, says: Many of the people in the country were alarmed—some thought that the last day had arrived. A clergyman of a neighboring township, who is in the habit of holding social prayer meeting on Wednesday evenings, informs us that his meeting this week was composed of a large and attentive audience, which was such a remarkable circumstance that he could attribute it to no other cause than the alarm which had spread on account of the strange sights in the morning.