prevalent Disorders^ Sfc^ *mith Volcanic Emanations, 615 



been supposed incompatible with a residence for man. It is, 

 after all, a matter of little practical importance what is the 

 secondary origin of a meteor ; but thus much do speculation 

 and theorising avail for good, that no man, with a correct view 

 of his own insignificance, and with a simple-minded aim, can 

 explore any of the bountiful fields of science which are spread 

 out so magnificently above him and around him, and not find 

 himself a better man, even if he have to acknowledge himself 

 a worse philosopher than he imagined. 



To return, however, to facts in illustration of that with 

 which I set out: the earthquake at Chichester, on August 27. 

 1834, was coincident with the most tremendous earthquake 

 of Vesuvius on record, and was followed by a brilliant aurora 

 soon after. The shock of Sept. 21., at the same place, was 

 followed by the aurora on Sept. 30., and by meteors on 

 Sept. 29., and on Oct. I. and 3., as seen from Hensbury, 

 near Bristol; Bologna being shaken by an earthquake on 

 Oct. 4. 



I may observe, also, that, on Dec. 20. 1799, there fell, in 

 the province of Benares, many meteoritic stones, coming from 

 the westward ; the relations of which are given in Lord Va- 

 lentia's Travels (i. 468. appendix). These stones were at- 

 tended with great light ; and, in other respects, the meteor 

 was of similar character to those of Nov. 12. 1799, in Cu- 

 mana {Mag. Nat. Hist., vii. 291.), with which it may have 

 been connected. The meteors seen by Humboldt were cal- 

 culated to have fallen into the sea between America and 

 Africa : which was probably an optical deception ; for it is 

 altogether impossible to ascertain that. The latitudes of 

 Cumana and Benares, and the eastward motion of the meteor 

 in India, might rather lead us to infer, that there was as much 

 connection between it and those of Cumana, as between the 

 meteors seen at Mocha, on Nov. 14., and in England, on 

 Nov. 19. 1832; the space travelled by the latter, and the 

 time of the journey, being taken into account. 



In addition to former examples, it may be added, that, in 

 the year 1832, the volcanoes of the Pacific Ocean were in 

 unusual action. 



On Oct. 31., Etna was violently affected; while, during 

 March (8. to 14.), violent earthquakes occurred in Calabria, 

 Modena, and Reggio ; and, on May 26., in the Apennines, 

 Gulf of Genoa, &c. {Journal de la Belgiqiie, Juin 8 — 11. 1832.) 

 So that there were ample materials, on my supposition, to 

 produce the meteors in question. The heat was so great in 

 some parts of Europe, during the autumn of 1832, that the 

 ground spontaneously took fire. Such was the case in Swit- 



E R 4 



