366 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



grounds. When the stone was extracted it was warm, 

 smoked, and smelt very strong of sulphur. Its course, as 

 far as could be collected from different accounts was from 

 south-west. The day was mild and hazy; the sort of things 

 very frequent in the Wold Hills where there are no winds 

 or storms ; but there was not any thunder or lightning the 

 whole day. No such stone is known in the country. There 

 was no eruption in the earth : and from its form it could 

 not come from any building, and as the day was not tem- 

 pestuous it did not seem possible that it could have been 

 forced from any rocks, the nearest of which are those of 

 Flamborough Head, a distance of twelve miles. The 

 nearest volcano I believe to be Hecla in Iceland." 



It might be thought that an examination of the stones 

 themselves would be sufficient to prove or to disprove the 

 common belief about their origin ; and about this time an 

 examination of the sort was undertaken by some of the 

 leading French chemists, who actually made an analysis of 

 the Ensisheim stone, and, finding it to contain nothing 

 new, concluded that it was terrestrial. Their report on 

 these supposed sky-stones terminated with the words : 

 " Ignorance and superstition have attributed to them a 

 miraculous existence at variance with the first notions of 

 natural philosophy ". 



Fall of the Benares Stone. 



In the year 1798, another well-authenticated fall took 

 place in India, fourteen miles from Benares, where a 

 luminous meteor was observed in the western heavens at 

 8 p.m. accompanied by a loud noise resembling thunder. 

 The sky was perfectly serene ; not the smallest vestige 

 of a cloud had been seen for about eight days, nor were 

 any seen for many days after. " Inhabitants observed 

 that the light and thunder were accompanied by the noise 

 of heavy bodies falling. Uncertain whether some of their 

 deities might not have been concerned in this occurrence 

 they did not venture out to inquire into it until the next 

 morning, when the first circumstance which attracted their 

 attention was the appearance of the earth being turned up 



