176 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



ture ; in that case they amply remunerate us for their own de- 

 predations. 



§ 2. Meteorology, Electricity, §c. 



1. MeteoroUte. — The following description of a previously 

 unrecorded meteorolite is from the Journal de Physique for 

 April. It is given from M. Cayoleau in a letter to M. Du- 

 buisson. 



" On the 5th of August, 1812, at two o'clock in the morning, 

 whilst the weather was calm and the sky clear, a meteor, daz- 

 zling with light, struck the sight of some travellers and coun- 

 trymen in the neighbourhood of Chantonnay, in the depart- 

 ment of La Vendee, on the road from Nantes to La Rochclle. 

 It was said to have been seen at many leagues' distance. The 

 time of its duration was not observed, but it terminated in a 

 violent explosion, which was compared to the loudest clap of 

 thunder which had been heard in that country. 



In the middle of the day the master of the farm of la Haute 

 Revetison, 4,000 metres (4374,5 yards) from Chantonnay, 

 perceived, in a field near to his house, a large stone, which he 

 had never before observed. Itwas buried two feet and a half 

 in the earth, and had a strong smell of sulphur, which it re- 

 tained during six months, but which at last was lost." 



At the end of December, 1814« M. Cavoleau became ac- 

 quainted with this fact, and judging from this relation and the 

 appearances of the stone, that it was an aerolite, he sent an 

 account of it, with some fragments, to M. Dubuisson, who 

 says—" 1. The crust, or envelope, appears to me to difler 

 from that of other falling stones of this kind, in passing from a 

 black colour to the yellow of peroxide of iron. 2. It differs 

 also from other pieces of this kind in the internal parts, giving 

 sparks when struck by steel, though not so abundantly as the 

 outside. 3. The internal part, like the crust, scratches glass. 

 4. The form of the mass appears to have been rounded, and to 

 1 ave had many cells and cavities. The interior is granular, of 

 an earthy appearance, with the exception of some brilliant 



