FALLEN ON THE EA"RTH. 219 



Gf their mode of analyfis, I (hall have occafion to fpeak Conjeaure thai 

 hereafter. They were induced to conclude, that the ftone, [ f mi S ht . hava 



•' been pyrites, 



prefented to the Academy by the Abbe Bachelay, did not ftruck in pre- 



own its origin to thunder : that it did not fall from heaven ; *e«-ence by light- 

 that it was not formed by mineral fubftances fufed by light- 

 ning : and that it was nothing but a fpeoies of pyrites, without 

 peculiarity, except as to the hepatic fmell difengaged from it 

 by marine acid " Que cette pierre, qui peut-etre £toit 

 t* couverte d'une petite couche de terre ou de gazon, aura 

 *' e'te frappee par la foudre, et qu'elle aura ete ainfi mife en 

 " evidence: la chaleur aura 6t6 alfez grande pourfondrela 

 ■" fuperficie de la partie frappee, mais elle n'aura pas etc - afiez 

 f* long-tems continuee pour pouvoir penetrer dans Pinterieure 

 " c'eft ce qui fait que la pierre n'a point 6t6 decompofee. 

 f* La quantite de mati^eres m^talliques qu'elle contenoit, en 

 u oppolant moins de reTiftance qu'un autre corps au courant 

 M de matie're ele&rique, aura peut-etre pu contribuer meme a 

 H determiner la direction de la foudre/' 



The Memoir is however concluded, by obferving it to be 

 Sufficiently fingular, that M. Morand le Fi Is had prefented a Another ftone 

 fragment of a ftone, from the environs of Coutances, a lf fromCoutances, 

 faid to have fallen from heaven, which only differed from that 

 of the Abbe Bachelay, beeaufe it did not exhale the hepatic 

 fmell with fpirit of fait. Yet the academicians did not think 

 any conclufion could be drawn from this refemblance, unlefs 

 that the lightening had fallen by preference on pyritical 

 matter.* 



Mons. Barthold, Profeffeur a PEcole centrale du Haut- Barthold's ej$- 



Rhin, gave I believe the next, and laft, f analytical account ^^^ S * 



of what' be alio denominates Pierre de Tonnerre. He defcribesit thunder ftone 



thus : *' La maffe de pierre connue fous le nom de Pierre de we, g nin g two 



, | . • . quintal^. 



H Tonnerre d'Enfislieim, pefant environ deux quintaux, a la 



" forme exte>ieure arrondie, prefque ovale, raboteufe, d'un 



f afpecl terne et terreux. 



" Le fond de la pierre eft cPune couleur grife bleuatre, Defcriptlon. 



(' parfem£e de criftaiix de pyrites, ifoles, d'une criftalifation 



f 4 confufe, en quelques endroitsecailleufes, ramaffes, formant 



* See Journal dephyfique, Tom. II. p. 251. 



+ A very interefting detail of a meteor, and of ftones fallen in 

 July 1790, was given by Profeffeur Baudin, in the Magaxinfiir 

 fas Neuefle aus der ?byfik x by PrqfefTqr Yoigt. 



ff des 



