480 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, VOL. XIII. 



The only thing which seemed of any importance, beyond this statement, was derived from Mr. Elihu Staples, 

 who said that when the meteor disappeared, there were apparently three successive efforts or leaps of the fireball, 

 which grew more dim at every throw, and disappeared with the last. 



Such were the sensible phenomena which attended this meteor. We purposely avoid describing the appear- 

 ances which it assumed in other places, leaving this task to others who have the means of performing it more accurately; 

 while we proceed to detail the consequences which followed the explosions and apparent extinction of this luminary. 



We allude to the fall of a number of masses of stone in several places, principally within the town of Weston. 

 The places which had been well ascertained at the period of our investigation were six. The most remote were about 

 9 or 10 miles distant from each other, in a line differing little from the course of the meteor. It is therefore probable 

 that the successive masses fell in this order, the most northerly first, and the most southerly last. We think we are 

 able to point out three principal places where stones have fallen, corresponding with the three loud cannon-like 

 reports, and with the three leaps of the meteor, observed by Mr. Staples. There were some circumstances common 

 to all the cases. There was, in every instance, immediately after the explosions had ceased, a loud whizzing or roar- 

 ing noise in the air, observed at all the places, and, so far as was ascertained, at the moment of the fall. It excited 

 in some the idea of a tornado; in others, of a large cannon shot in rapid motion; and it filled all with astonishment 

 and apprehension of some impending catastrophe. In every instance immediately after this was heard a sudden and 

 abrupt noise, like that of a ponderous body striking the ground in its fall. Excepting one, the stones were more or 

 less broken. The most important circumstance of the particular cases were as follows: 



1. The most northerly fall was within the limits of Huntington, on the border of Weston, about 40 or 50 rods east 

 of the great road from Bridgeport to Newton, in a crossroad, and contiguous to the house of Mr. Merwin Burr. Mr. 

 Burr was standing in the road in front of his house, when the stone fell. The noise produced by its collision with a 

 rock of granite on which it struck, was very loud. Mr. Burr was within 50 feet and immediately searched for the 

 body, but, it being still dark, he did not find it till half an hour after. By the fall some of it was reduced to powder, 

 and the rest of it was broken into very small fragments, which were thrown around to the distance of 20 or 30 feet. 

 The granite rock was stained at the place of contact with a deep lead color. The largest fragment which remained 

 did not exceed the size of a goose egg, and this Mr. Burr found to be still warm in his hand. There was reason to con- 

 clude, from all the circumstances, that this stone must have weighed about 20 or 35 pounds. 



Mr. Burr has a strong impression that another stone fell in an adjoining field, and it was confidently believed that 

 a large mass had fallen into a neighboring swamp, but neither of these had been found. It is probable that the 

 stone, whose fall has now been described, together with any other masses which may have fallen at the same time, 

 was thrown from the meteor at the first explosion. 



2. The masses projected at the second explosion seem to have fallen principally at and in the vicinity of Mr. 

 William Prince's, in Weston, distant about 5 miles, in a southerly direction from Mr. Burr's. Mr. Prince and fam- 

 ily were still in bed, when they heard a noise like the fall of a very heavy body, immediately after the explosions. 

 They formed various unsatisfactory conjectures concerning the cause; nor did even a fresh hole made through the 

 turf in the door yard, about 25 feet from the house, lead to any conception of the cause, or induce any other inquiry 

 than why a new post hole should have been dug where there was no use for it. So far were this family from con- 

 ceiving of the possibility of such an event as stones falling from the clouds. They had, indeed, formed a vague 

 conjecture that the hole might have been made by lightning, but would probably have paid no further attention to the 

 circumstance had they not heard, in the course of the day, that stones had fallen that morning in other parts of the town. 

 This induced them, toward evening, to search the hole in the yard, where they found a stone buried in the loose 

 earth which had fallen in upon it. It was 2 feet from the surface; the hole was about 12 inches in diameter, and as 

 the earth was soft and nearly free from stones, the mass had sustained little injury, only a few fragments having been 

 detached by the shock. The weight of this stone was about 35 pounds. From the descriptions which we have heard, 

 it must have been a noble specimen, and men of science will not cease to deplore that so rare a treasure should have 

 been immediately broken in pieces. All that remained unbroken of this noble mass was a piece of 12 pounds weight, 

 since purchased by Isaac Bronson, Esq., of Greenfield, with the liberal view of presenting it to some public 

 institution. 



Six days after, another mass was discovered, half a mile northwest from Mr. Prince's. The search was induced 

 by the confident persuasion of the neighbors that they heard it fall near the spot where it was actually found buried 

 in the earth, weighing from 7 to 10 pounds. It was found by Gideon Hall and Isaac Fairchild. It was in small frag- 

 ments, having fallen on a globular detached mass of gneiss rock, which it split in two, and which by it was itself 

 shivered in pieces. 



The same men informed us that they suspected another stone had fallen in the vicinity, as the report had been 

 distinctly heard, and could be referred to a particular region somewhat to the east. Returning to the place, after an 

 excursion of a few hours to another part of the town, we were gratified to find the conjecture verified by the actual 

 discovery of a mass of 13 pounds weight, which had fallen half a mile to the northeast of Mr. Prince's. Having fallen 

 in a plowed field, without coming into contact with a rock, it was broken only into two principal pieces, one of 

 which, possessing all the characters of the stone in a remarkable degree, we purchased; for it had now become an 

 article of sale. It was urged that it had pleased Heaven to rain down this treasure upon them, and they would bring 

 their thunderbolts to the best market they could. This was, it must be confessed, a wiser mode of managing the 

 business than that which had been adopted by some others at an earlier period of these discoveries. Strongly im- 

 pressed with the idea that these stones contained gold and silver, they subjected them to all the tortures of ancient 



