GEOLOGY. 365 



descent is unaccompanied by the explosions belonging to the true meteorites, 

 and the precipitated matter is uncharacterized, also, by the possession of a 

 thin, well-fused coating or crust. 



The study of these pseudo or doubtful meteorites, as they have been 

 called, is worthy of a much closer attention than has hitherto been devoted 

 to them ; and it is to be regretted that they continue still to be treated 

 much as the true stones and iron masses were, prior to the time of Chaldni 

 and Howard. Their study seems to be regarded as a field, exterior to the 

 domain of legitimate science, a region for the reception of all that is 

 vague and contradictory. Much time and labor will no doubt be requisite 

 to disentangle what is really entitled to scientific regard; but this desirable 

 result will be yet longer postponed, if naturalists continue to dismiss as 

 unworthy of investigation every reported meteoric fall that is unattended 

 with the stereotyped accompaniments of the descent of the black encrusted 

 stone and iron mass, the frequency of whose arrival has now so multiplied 

 as to make the recital of their apparition almost monotonous. 



Without here referring to many of the doubtful meteorites, of which I 

 have from time to time given notices, I will venture to call attention to a 

 few other instances, of which no scientific mention has yet been made, 

 not claiming for them, however, any other character than that of mere 

 hints, intended to awaken regard to a fuller investigation of analogous 

 cases, as they may from time to time present themselves. 



It was not far from the month of August, 1834, that the newspapers 

 announced the fall of a blazing meteor, in the night, in the town of Nor- 

 wich, Conn. Its descent was unaccompanied by any report, and the mass 

 of matter, in its course, came near falling upon the roof of a house, missing 

 it only by the space of about two feet, and nearly burying itself in the 

 rather soft earth of the door-yard. The phenomenon occasioned much 

 fright to the occupants of the house, who were only females. It was seen, 

 however, by others. The mass of matter occupying the cavity was of a 

 flattened form, and nearly as large over as a man's head. It had the ap- 

 pearance (in the words of a neighbor who saw it, and who described it to 

 me a few weeks after) of a mass of earth, stuck together by the infiltration 

 of tarry matter. And such he took it to be, supposing that some mis- 

 chievous persons had prepared a fire-ball, and projected it on fire into the air, 

 with the intention of alarming the inmates of the house. I was shown the 

 cavity said to have been produced by the ball; but the specimen had been 

 given to a medical student, who had sent it to his preceptor, residing in or 

 near Albany, N. Y. The circumstances Avere on the whole so discouraging 

 to the idea of its being a genuine meteorite, that I gave the subject no 

 further consideration. 



On the evening of the 23d of April, 1855, at Ochtertyre House, Crieff, 

 in Perthshire (Scotland), a young woman saw, from the third story, a shoot- 

 ing star or meteorite, falling, with a brilliant light. It struck the gravel 

 walk near to the house. She instantly called two other females, "who saw, 

 as it were, a bright object on the gravel, like the sun shining on a large 

 diamond." Two of them ran out of the house and round a court-yard to 

 the spot, taking matches and a candle with them. As soon as they got to 

 the spot, one of them picked up two cindery fragments, which were too hot 

 to hold, and which emitted a strong sulphurous smell. The other felt 

 something hot under her foot, which she also picked up. It had a similar 

 character with the other fragments. At first it was believed that these 



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