194 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



In due time we shall have the result of his scientific examination, but from the circumstances we have no hesi- 

 tation in admitting this case as genuine. The facts are perfectly familiar to hundreds on record, and in many partic- 

 ulars are in accordance with the remarkable event of this nature which happened in Weston, Connecticut, in December, 

 1807, and with which the senior editor of this journal, with his college colleague, Professor Kingsley, was at the time 

 familiar. There is no room to discuss theories, but we feel fully assured that aerolites are not formed in our atmos- 

 phere, are not projected from .terrestrial or lunar volcanoes, but have a foreign origin, giving us the only reports of the 

 physical constitution of other worlds which have ever reached our earth. 



By an additional communication from J. H. Gibbon, dated November 29, 1849, it is rendered probable that 

 "luminous materials were seen advancing from several points in the atmosphere toward a common center, where a 

 solid mass of heated metal (materials) exploded and was violently projected in different directions to the earth." 



It is stated also that there was a distinct appearance of a single fiery elongated body, like iron advanced to a white 

 heat, sparkling in its passage from west to east, rising like a rocket but not vertically, and passing through the air with 

 a long white streak or tail following a denser body in the form of a ball of fire. ("The true flaming sword of antiquity.") 



Still it is to be observed that neither the fireball nor any light was seen by many who heard the successive reports 

 and the fall of the stones, and the rumbling " like loaded wagons jolting down a rocky hill." (This was the very 

 comparison used at Weston, in December, 1807, by the people there, in describing a portion of the reports heard on 

 that occasion.) But this is no way extraordinary, as it was daytime, with a clear sky, and those only would see the 

 fireball who were looking in the proper direction at the time "when it was in its most ardent state." At the explo- 

 sion, the meteor was about 45° high. 



The estimation of time between the disappearance of the light and the arrival of the sound was very different, 

 as made by different persons, at several minutes, even as high as five. The latter supposition would make the meteor 

 almost extra atmospheric, but doubtless the period of five minutes is much too high, and we infer that the meteor, 

 like that at Weston, was fully within the atmosphere, and probably not over 15 or 20 miles from the earth when it 

 exploded. It was seen through 250 miles from the line of Virginia to Sumter district in South Carolina, and from east 

 to west it was seen through 60 miles. 



A further account and analysis was given by Shepard 2 as follows: 



This stone fell at 3.15 p. m. on October 31, 1849. The place of fall was upon the estate of Mr. H. Bost, which is 

 situated in the northwest corner of the county, 18 or 20 miles from Concord, its shiretown, 22 miles east from Charlotte, 

 and 15 miles from Monroe, the county seat of Union. An account of the principal circumstances attending the fall of 

 the mass has been given by Dr. J. H. Gibbon, of the United States Branch Mint, at Charlotte, which appeared in a late 

 number of the American Journal of Science. Additional particulars of the same phenomenon have been afforded by 

 the same gentleman which were published in the National Intelligencer. As abstracts from both these sources have 

 been made by several papers in different sections of the country, it will be unnecessary to take up time here with 

 further particulars on this part of the subject. A few additional facts communicated to me by Dr. William D. Kersh, 

 of this State, and by Dr. E. H. Andrews, of Charlotte, may be communicated on a future occasion. 



For an opportunity of describing this stone I am indebted to the kind offices of Doctors Gibbon and Andrews, of 

 Charlotte, both of whom repaired immediately to the place of fall and secured for me the refusal of the mass. It was 

 soon afterwards purchased by Doctor Andrews and transmitted to me here, thus affording me the pleasure of exhibit- 

 ing it to the association almost precisely in the condition in which it was found. 



The present weight is 18.5 pounds, it having been reduced 1 pound by the abstraction of two or three fragments by 

 those who saw it prior to the visit of Doctors Gibbon and Andrews. 



The shape reminds one the most forcibly of a human foot inclosed in an india-rubber overshoe. It nevertheless 

 exhibits several tolerably distinct planes giving rise to a low, irregular, four-sided pyramid truncated at the summit 

 and having for a base a somewhat rounded undulating surface. Its greatest length is 10.5 inches, its height 5.5 inches, 

 and its breadth 6.75 inches. The sides present the indentations and the angles the blunt terminations which are so 

 common in these bodies. 



The crust is thin, black, and strongly coherent, having a smooth surface with exception of minute projections 

 occasioned by metallic grains. In point of luster it is quite dull. Minute portions of yellowish clay and fibers of 

 lignin (the former from the soil into which it fell and the latter from the tree against which it struck) are still visible 

 upon portions of the surface. 



An attempt to break the mass for obtaining a fresh view of the interior revealed a remarkable difference between 

 this and most meteoric stones. It required repeated strong blows with a heavy hammer to detach a fragment of 1 pound 

 weight; and the fracture was at last effected only where a fissure had before been observed, and where a sort of natural 

 joint with perfectly glazed plumbaginous surfaces had existed. In force of cohesion it fully equals most trappean rocks. 



Its ground color is of a dark bluish-gray stained with fine rust points. It is mottled with rounded grains and crystals 

 of a lighter-colored mineral, rendering the mass when closely viewed subporphyritic. Though rich in nickeliferous 

 iron and pyrites, these ingredients can scarcely be discovered upon a fractured surface owing to the fineness with which 

 they are interspersed. 



It is the first example belonging to the trappean order of stones which has been described in. the United States, and 

 approximates most closely to the rare stone of Tabor, in Bohemia, which fell July 3, 1753. 



It is strongly magnetic. Its specific gravity varies from 3.60 to 3.66. 



