68 DISTRIBUTION OF FOSSIL COIL. 



Meteors. The luminous appearance of those meteors connected 



with the fall of stones is one of the extraordinary circum- 

 stances of these wonderful phenomena. This effect may 

 be accounted for, by supposing, that the substances, which 

 fall, come into our atmosphere in a metallic state; and that 

 the earths they principally consist of are a result of combus- 

 tion ; but this idea has not the slightest connexion with their 

 origin or cause. 



dtc. 



X. 



On the supposed universal Distribution of Fossil Coal, in 

 Reply to Mr. B. Cook, Vol. XXI, page 292; and on the 

 Nature and Situations of the extraneous Fossil (Belemnite) 

 analysed by Mr, J. Acton, at page 305, under the De- 

 nomination of a" Crystal" called a Thunder-pick, In a 

 Letter from Mr. John Farey. 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 SIR, 



Assertion, that A"T * s sincerely to be regretted, when practical and highly 



c«al may be useful papers, like that of your correspondent Mr. B. Cook 



most all parts on ^ e advantage of gas lights, in your number for Dec, 



ef this country, contain any assertions or speculations, which, being foreign 



to the profession or pursuits of the writer, are liable to mix 



errour with so much of practical and useful truth. I was 



led to these reflections by the following remarks of your 



correspondent at page 292. *« This country produces a vast 



" quantity of coal, in almost every part where it is properly 



*' sought for ;" if gas lights were generally introduced, it 



might raise the price of coals, " but it certainly would be a 



" stimulus to men of landed property to seek for it, where 



common metals, exibt in large quantities beneath the surface, then their 

 accidental exposure to the action of air and water must produce the effect 

 of subterranean fire, and a product of earthy and stony matter analogous 



to laras. 



« 



"to 



