3£4- Experiments and OhfervationS 



as well as fulphateof magnefia, when fulphuric acid was ge* 

 nerated by igniting the earths and pyrites And, as to the 

 proportion of alumina in the fame ftofte, I vvbttld afk, at 

 lead, whether it would have been fo considerable jf the folu- 

 tions formed by acids, after the treatment with potafh, had 

 been evaporated to the requifite drynefs : not to obferve, 

 that no mention is made of any examination of the properties 

 of the earth called alumina. In the proportion of magnefia 

 I have the fatisfaclion to find my analyfis correfpond very 

 nearly with that of profeflbr Barthold ; and, if what he con- 

 fidered alumina were fuppofed filica, the (tone prefented to 

 the French academy, the (lone of Eniiiheim, and the four I 

 have examined, would agree very nearly in filiceous propor- 

 tions. With refpect. to the nickel, I am confident it would 

 have been found in all, had the metallic particles been fepa- 

 ratelv examined. But, whatever be thefe variations, the mi- 

 neralooical defcription of the French academicians, of Mr. 

 Barthold, and of the count de Bournon, all exhibit a (Iriking 

 conformity of character, common to each of thefe (tones; 

 and I doubt not but the fimilarity of component parts, efpe- 

 ciallv of the malleable alloy, together with the near approach 

 of the conftituent proportions of the earths contained in each 

 of the four (tones, the immediate fubject of this paper, will 

 erlablim very ftrong evidence in favour of the aflertion, that 

 they have fallen on our globe. They have been found at 

 places very remote from each other, and at periods alio fuffi- 

 cientlydiftant. The mineralogifts who have examined them 

 agree that they have no refemblance to mineral fubftances 

 properly fo called, nor have they been defcribed by mineralo- 

 gical authors. I would further urge the authenticity of ac- 

 counts of fallen (tones, and the fimilarity of eircumftances 

 attendant oniuch phenomena; but to the impartial it would 

 be fuperfluous, and, to thofe who dihbelieve whatever they 

 cannot explain, it would be fruitlefs. Attempts to reconcile 

 occurrences of this nature with known principles of philo- 

 sophy, it is true, are already abundant \ but (as the earl of 

 Briftol has well expreffed) they leave us a choice of difficulties 

 equally perplexing. It is, however, remarkable that doctor 

 Chladni, who feems to have indulged in thefe fpeculations 

 with inoft fuccefs, fhould have connected the defcent of fallen 

 ftones with meteors; and that, in the narrative of Mr. Wil- 

 liams, the defcent of the (tones near Benares mould have 

 been immediately accompanied with a meteor. 



No luminous appearance having been perceived during the 

 day on which the (lone fell in Yorkfhire, it mull be admit- 

 ted, rather militates againft the idea that thefe Hones are the 



fub (lances 



