'254 



ON STONV AND METALLINE SUBSTANCES. 



IX. 



Experiments and Obfcrvations on certain jinny and metalline 

 Subftances, which at different Times are /aid to have fallen 

 on the Earth; alfb on various Kinds of native Iron. By 



Edward Howard, Efq. F. Ii. S. 

 Tranfa&ions. 1802. 



From the Philofophical 



$tone that fell in 

 Yorkfhire and 

 was exhibited in 

 London. 1796, 

 weighing 561b. 

 Hiftorical ac- 

 count. 



Inveftigations 

 tefpetting it. 



( Continued from page 22\.) 



IN 1796, a ftone weighing 56lb. was exhibited in London, 

 with feveral attentions of perfons who, on the 1 3th of Decem- 

 ber, 179>, faw it fall, near Wold Cottage, in Yorkfhire, at 

 about three o'clock in the afternoon. It had penetrated 

 through 12 inches of foil and 6 inches of folrd chalk rock ; and 

 m burying itfelf, had thrown up an immenfe quantity of earth, 

 to a great diftance : as it fell, a number of exploftons were 

 heard, about as loud as piftols. In the adjacent villages, the 

 founds heard were taken for guns at fea ; but, at two adjoin- 

 ing villages, were fo diftinc~t Of fomething lingular paffing 

 through the air, towards the habitation of Mr. Topham, 

 that five or fix people came up, to fee if any thing ex- 

 traordinary had happened to his houfe or grounds. When 

 the ftone was extracted, it was warm, fmoaked, and fmelt 

 very ftrongly of fulphur. Its courfe. as far as could be col- 

 lected from different accounts, was from the fouth-weft. The 

 day was mild and hazy, a fort of weather very frequent in the 

 Wold hills, when there are no winds or ftorms ; but there was 

 not any thunder or lightning the whole day. No fuch ftone is 

 known in the country. There was no eruption in the earth ; 

 and, from its form, it could not come from any building ; and, 

 as the day was not tempeftuous, it did not feem probable 

 that it could have been forced from any rocks, the neareft of 

 which arethofe ofHamborough Head, at a diftance of twelve 

 miles.* The neareft volcano, I believe to be Hecla, in 

 Iceland. 



The exhibition of this ftone, as a fort of fhow, did not tend 

 to accredit the account of its defcent, delivered in a hand-bill 

 at the place of exhibition ; much lefs could it contribute to re- 



• Extracted from the printed paper delivered at the place of 

 exhibition. 



move 



