24 Experiments and Obfervations 



tiently ufed to denute many fpecies of ftones, which were 

 polifhed and ihaped into various forms, though moftly wedge- 

 like or triangular, fometimes as inftruments, fometimes as 

 oracles, and fometimes as deities. The import of the names 

 o?nbria 9 brontia> &c. feems fubject to the fame uncertainty. 



' In very early ages it was believed that Hones did in reality 

 fall, as it was faid, from heaven, or from the gods; thefe, 

 either from ignorance, or perhaps from fuperihtious views, 

 were confounded with other {tones, which, by their compact 

 aggregation, were better calculated to be ihaped into different 

 inftruments, and to which it was convenient to attach a fpe- 

 cies of myfterious veneration. In modern days, becaufe ex- 

 plofion and report have generally accompanied the defcent of 

 fuch fubftances, the name of thunderbolt, or thunderftone,- 

 has ignorantly attached itfelf to them ; and becaufe a variety 

 of fuo fiances accidentally prefent near buildings and trees 

 {truck with lightning have, with the fame ignorance, been 

 collected as thunderbolts, the thunderbolt and the fallen 

 metalline fubftance have been ranked in the fame clafs of 

 abfurdity. Certainlv, flnce the phaenomena of lightning and 

 electricity have been fo well identified, the idea of a thunder- 

 bolt is ridiculous. But the exiflence of peculiar fubftances 

 fallen on the earth, I cannot hefitate to affert; and on the 

 concordance of remote and authenticated facts I (hall reft 

 the aflertion. 



Mr. King, the learned author of " Remarks concerning 

 Stones faid to have fallen from the Clouds, in thefe Days, 

 and in antient Times," has adduced quotations of the greateft 

 antiquity, defcriptive of the defcent of fallen ftones ; and, 

 could it be thought neeeflary to add antique teflimonies to 

 thofe inftanced by fo profound an antiquarian, the quota- 

 tions of Monf. Falconet, in his papers upon boetilia, inferted 

 in the Hijlnre des Infcriptions et Belles-Lettres* ; the quota^ 

 tions in Zahn's Specula Pbyjico- mathematica Hijhr iana\ ; 

 the Fijica Sotterranea of Giacinto Gemma ; the works of 

 Pliny, and others, might be referred to. 



Dr. Chladni, in his " Obfervations on the Mafs of Fron 

 found in Siberia, and on other Mafl'es of the like Kind," as 

 well as in his \f Obfervations on Fire-balls and hard Bodies 

 fallen from the Atmofphere," has collected almoft every 

 modern inftnnce of phaenomena of this nature. 



Mr. Southev relates an account, iuridicallv authenticated, 



of a ftone weighing ten pounds which was heard to fall in 



■ 

 ;•. 519, et tmn.xxiii. p. 22X. 

 f Foi. i6(j6, \ol. i. p. 585, where a long enumeration of ftones fallen* 

 from the fky is given. 



Portugal 



