Dr. Humphreys, president of St. John's College, Annapolis, said of the
appearance at the Maryland capital:
"In the words of most, they fell _like flakes of
snow_."--_American Journal of Science, Vol. XXV (1834), p.
372._
Nothing less than this could have presented the counterpart of the
prophetic picture.
Thoughtful hearts were solemnized by the unwonted spectacle. Prof.
Alexander Twining, civil engineer, "late tutor in Yale College," giving
his views as to the nature of the flaming visitants from space, wrote:
"Had they held on their course unabated for three seconds
longer, half a continent must, to all appearance, have been
involved in unheard-of calamity. But that almighty Being who
made the world, and knew its dangers, gave it also its
armature--endowing the atmospheric medium around it with
protecting, no less than with life-sustaining, properties....
"Considered as one of the rare and wonderful displays of the
Creator's preserving care, as well as the terrible magnitude
and power of His agencies, it is not meet that such occurrences
as those of November 13 should leave no more solid and
permanent effect upon the human mind than the impression of a
splendid scene.
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