37 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



In 1818 Dr. W. G. Reynolds, in offering a theory on meteorites, 

 says : " Dr. Blagden considers electricity as the general cause of 

 these phenomena ; Dr. Gregory and others think they depend on 

 highly inflammable matter, as phosphorus, phosphorated hydro- 

 gen, etc., being volatilized and congregated in the upper regions 

 of the air. Dr. Halley ascribes them to a fortuitous concourse of 

 atoms, which the earth meets in her annual track through the 

 ecliptic ; and Sir John Pringle seems to regard them as bodies of 

 a celestial character, revolving around centers, and intended by 

 the Creator for wise and beneficent purposes, perhaps to our at- 

 mosphere, to free it of noxious qualities, or supply such as are 

 salutary." Dr. Reynolds then goes on to elaborate a most com- 

 plicated theory in which solid substances on the earth are changed 

 to vapor by the sun's heat ; these, rising as gases, finally give up 

 their heat by an explosion, and the particles, having no heat to 

 keep them apart, rush together and come down as solids. 



" While the minds of the scientific men of France were in 

 this unsettled condition, there came a report that still another 

 shower of stones had fallen, this time in their own country, and 

 within easy reach of Paris. To settle the matter finally, if pos- 

 sible, the physicist Biot, member of the French Academy, was 

 directed by the Minister of the Interior to inquire into the event 

 upon the spot. After a careful examination of the stones and a 

 comparison of the statements of the villagers, Biot was convinced 

 that — 



" 1. On Tuesday, April 26, 1803, about 1 P. M., there was a vio- 

 lent explosion in the neighborhood of L'Aigle, in the department 

 of Orne, lasting for five or six minutes ; this was heard for a dis- 

 tance of seventy-five miles round. 



"2. Some moments before the explosion at L'Aigle, & fire-ball 

 in quick motion was seen from several of the adjoining towns, 

 though not from L'Aigle itself. 



" 3. There was absolutely no doubt that on the same day many 

 stones fell in the neighborhood of L'Aiglq. 



:e Biot estimated the number of the stones at two or three thou- 

 sand ; they fell within an ellipse of which the larger axis was 6*2 

 miles, and the smaller 2*5 miles ; and this inequality would indicate 

 not a single explosion but a series of them. With the exception of 

 a few little clouds of ordinary character, the sky was quite clear. 



f The exhaustive report of Biot, and the conclusive nature of 

 his proofs, compelled the whole of the scientific world to recognize 

 the fall of stones on the earth from outer space as an undoubted 

 fact." * 



The main difficulty in forming theories at the present time is 



* British Museum Catalogue of Meteorites. 



