244 An Account of a Shower of Meteoric Stones^ 



In April 1802, the same thing happened at L'Aigle, 

 Biot, a member of the French National Institute, who visited 

 the place to ascertain the fact, , writes to this effect. Persons 

 of all professions, manners and opinions,-— ecclesiastics, sol- 

 diers and labourers, men, women^ and children, — agree in 

 referring the event to the same day, the same hour, and the 

 same minute. They say they saw the stones descending 

 along the roofs of the houses, break the branches of the 

 trees, and rebound after they fell upon the pavement. They 

 say they saw the earth smoke around the largest of them, 

 and that the stones were still hot after they had taken them 

 in their hands. The mineralogical collections formed on 

 the spot with the greatest care contained nothing of the 

 kind. On a sudden, and only since the time of the meteor, 

 these stones have been found, and within a certain extent. 



Within fifteen years past the falling of similar bodies, 

 under similar circumstances, has happened in Portugal, 

 Bohemia, France, Great Britain, India, and South America. 



To account for the existence of these stones, various 

 theories have been formed by philosophers. Some have 

 supposed them to be only common stones struck with light- 

 ning and partly melted. But this theory has now no advo- 

 cates. A less fanciful hypothesis is, that they are masses of 

 matter thrown from volcanoes. But to this there are serious 

 objections. No such bodies are found near the craters of 

 volcanoes, or are known to be projected from them. And 

 in many instances these bodies have fallen several hundred 

 and even several thousand miles from any known volcano. 

 Mr. Edward King has varied this theory, and supposes that 

 these substances are thrown from volcanoes not in stTlid 

 masses, but in the state of ashes or dust. He supposes that 

 these ashes descending in a cloud become condensed, take 

 fire, and produce numerous explosions. According to him, 

 the pyritical, metallic, and argillaceous particles melt, are 

 suddenly crystallized and consolidated, and fall in masses 

 to the ground. This explanation evidently involves as great 

 difficulties as those which it is intended to obviate. Some 

 philosophers have supposed that these stones are thrown 

 from terrestrial comets. Not to mention any oilier objec- 

 tion 



