354 ACCOUNT AND DESCRIPTION 



destitute of splendor, and for the most part lie Ljedded in the 

 stone, tho' they sometimes appear like a glossy superficial coat- 

 ing. They are sometimes attracted by the magnet, and some- 

 times not. 



Finally, the stone has been analysed in the laboratory of this 

 College, and appears to consist of the following ingredients. 



Silex, iron, magnesia, nickel, sulphur. — » he two first con- 

 stitute by far the greater part of the stone, the third is in consi- 

 derable proportion, but much less than either of the two hist, 

 the fourth is still less, and the sulphur exists in a small but in- 

 determinate quantity. 



Most of the iron is in a metallic state; the whole stone at- 

 tracts the magnet, and this instrument takes up a large propor- 

 tion of it when pulverized. Portions of malleable iron may be 

 separated so large, that they can be readily extended under the 

 hammer. 



It remains to be observed, that this account of the appear- 

 ance of the stone accords exactly with the descriptions, now 

 become numerous, of similar bodies which have fallen in 

 other countries, at various periods, and with specimens which 

 one of us lias inspected, of stones that have fallen in India, 

 France and Scotland. The chemical analysis also proves 

 that their composition is the same; and it is well known 

 to mineralogists and chemists, that no such stones have been 

 found among the productions of this globe. These considera- 

 tions must, in connection with the testimony, place the credi- 

 bility of the facts said to have recently occurred in Weston, 

 beyond all controversy. 



To account for events so singular, theories not less extraordi- 

 nary have been invented. It is scarcely necessary to mention 

 that theory which supposes them to be common masses of stone 

 fused by lightning, or that which derives them from terrestrial 

 volcanoes; both these hypotheses are now abandoned. Their at- 

 mospheric formation, from gaseous ingredients, is a crude unphi- 

 losophical conception, inconsistent with known chemical facts, 

 and physically impossible. — Even the favourite notion of their 

 lunar-volcanic origin, seems not to be reconcileable with the 

 magnitude of these bodies, and is strongly opposed by a number 

 of other facts. 



