94 BULLETIN 94, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



L'AIGLE, ORNE, FRANCE. Nos. 60 and 485. 



Stone, Cib. Two fragments, weighing 5G and 27 grains, with 

 brownish-black crust, stained by iron oxides. Groimdmass ash- 

 gray, also stained, compact, granular, chondritic. Fell about 1 p. m. 

 April 26, 1803, the course being from the southeast to the northwest. 

 Fall accompanied by the usual phenomena. Between 2,000 and 3,000 

 stones fell over an ellipsoidal area some 2| French miles in greatest 

 diameter, the aggregate weight being not less than 36,843 grams. 

 Analysis by E. H. v. Baumhauer showed the stone to consist of : 



Per cent. 



Nickel-iron ^- ^ 



Pyrrhotite 1- 8 



Chromite • ^ 



Olivine 45. 3 



Pyroxene 44. 3 



100.0 

 with a trace of calcium sulphate. 



Specific gravity on different samples varied from 3.270 to 3.626. 



This fall is of interest since it took place at a time when there was 

 still great doubt in the minds of even scientific men as to whether or 

 no stones did actually fall from the skies. As Chladni himself wrote : 



Kam der fall von L'Aigle gerade zur rechteu Zeit, um so Manclieu zum glaubeu 

 an das Neiderfallen Meteorischen Massen zu nothigen. 



Fletcher writes : 



Whilst the minds of the scientific men of France were in this unsettled condi- 

 tion there came a report that still another shower of stones had fallen, this time 

 in tlieir own country, and within easy reach of Paris. To settle the matter 

 tinally, if possible, the physicist Biot, member of the French Academy, was di- 

 rected by the minister of the interior to inquire into the event upon the spot. 

 After a careful examination of the stones and a comparison of the statements of 

 the villagers, Biot was convinced that — 



1. On Tuesday, April 26, 1S03, about 1 p. m., there was a violent explosion in 

 the neighborhood of L'Aigle, in the department of Orne, lasting for five or six 

 minutes. This was heard for a distance of 75 miles around. 



2. Some minutes before the explosion at L'Aigle a fireball in quick motion 

 was seen from several of the adjoining towns, though not from L'Aigle itself. 



3. There was absolutely no doubt that on the same day many stones fell in 

 the neighborhood of L'Aigle. 



Biot estimated the nuuiber of the stones at 2,000 or 3,000. They fell within an 

 ellipse of which the larger axis was 6.2 miles and the smaller 2.5 miles, and 

 this inequality might indicate not a single explosion but a series of them. With 

 the exception of a few little clouds of ordinary character the sky was quite clear.* 



The exhaustive report of Biot and its conclusive nature compelled 

 the whole of the scientific world to recognize the fall of stones on the 

 earth from outer space as an undoubted fact. 



Reference.— E.. Pfahler, Ueber den Meteoriten von L'Aigle, 26 

 April, 1803. Min. pet. Mitth., vol. 13, 18 93, p. 362. ^^ 



1 Memoires de rinstitut National de France, vol. 7, pt. 1, 1806, p. 224. 



