242 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



aerolites are not formed in our atmosphere, are not projected from 

 terrestrial or lunar volcanoes, but have a foreign origin, giving us the 

 only reports of the physical constitution of other w^orlds whicli have 

 ever reached our earth. 



By an additional communication from J. H. Gibbon, Esq., dated 

 November 29, 1849, it is rendered probable that "luminous mate- 

 rials were seen advancing from several points in the atmosphere 

 towards a common centre, where a solid mass of heated metal (ma- 

 terials) 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 raised to a white heat, sparkling 

 in its passage from west to east, rising like a rocket but not verti- 

 cally, and passing through the air with a long white streak or tail 

 following a denser body in the form of a ball of fire*. 



Still it is to be observed, that neither the fire-ball nor any light Nvas 

 seen by many who heard the successive reports and the fall of the 

 stones, and the rumbling " like loaded wagons jolting down a rocky 

 hillf ;" but this is no way extraordinary, as it was daytime, with a 

 clear sky, and those only would see the fire-ball who were looking in 

 the proper direction at the time " when it was in its most ardent 

 state." At the explosion, the meteor was about 45° high. 



The estimation of time between the disappearance of the light and 

 the arrival of the sound was very difli^erent, as made by different per- 

 sons, 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 fifteen or twenty miles from the earth when it exploded. It 

 was seen through 250 miles from the line of Virginia, to Sumpter 

 district in South Carolina, and from east to west it was seen through 

 sixty miles. — Silliman's Journal, January 1850. 



GOLD ON THE FARM OF SAMUEL ELLIOT, MONTGOMERY 

 COUNTY, MU., THIRTY MILES FROM BALTIMORE. 



The locality has been known but a few months, and appears to be 

 valuable. Three samples, examined at the mint, yielded as follows : — 

 No. 1 yielded at the rate of 744 grains per cwt. of ore, or g610 00 per ton. 

 No. 2 ... 960 ... 787 20 ... 



No. 3 ... 206 ... 168 80 ... 



Average 636 522 



The quartz which forms the matrix of the gold crops out amidst 

 a decomposed talcose slate, so that quarrying is very easy. Ores of 

 copper and iron are also present. 



• "The true flaming sword of antiquity." 



f 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 oc- 

 casion. 



