448 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
thirty degrees of the horizon, and appeared to occupy an equal 
space. ‘The lower part or head was most brilliant, and the 
light diminished (with the exception of a few points) towards 
the other extremity, or tail.. This meteor was strongly undu- 
lated, and continued full five minutes, during the whole of 
which time it did not change its place. The light gradually 
diminished, and the tail faded first, the head remaining visible 
longer than the rest. , 
The meteor was seen at Caen, at the same time. It appeared 
to descend vertically, giving out a light equal to that of brilliant 
lightning, and throwing out sparks. It left a long luminous 
undulating tail, filled with sparks. It was seen also at Havre, . 
Mons, Cherbourg, and Southampton. 
M. Gay-Lussac then observes, ‘* Whatever be the nature of 
these meteors, and which will probably remain long unknown, 
it appears to me incontestable that they, as well as falling stars, 
come from beyond the atmosphere, and that they inflame on 
penetrating it. In fact, their great rapidity supposes of neces- 
sity a considerable projectile force; but if the matter of which 
they were formed, existed in the atmosphere previous to their 
inflammation, it would be impossible to conceive of it otherwise 
than as elastic fluid, and when it inflamed, it could receive no 
projectile motion, nor produce that luminous train rapid as 
lightning, which accompanies this kind of meteors. It must 
therefore be in some other state than that of an elastic fluid, 
and consequently quite foreign to the atmosphere. — If this mat- 
ter should be volatile as well as the product of its combination 
with oxygen, it would be dissipated in smoke in the very place 
where it burnt; and if this were the case, we should despair of 
ever collecting it at the surface of the earth, and consequently 
of arriving at a knowledge of its nature.—Ann. de Chim. xx. 
3. Aerolite.—An aerolite fell in the Commune of la Baffe, de- 
partment des Vosges, on the 13th September last. A violent 
thunder storm commenced about four o’clock, A. M., the air 
being quiet, but the sky filled with electric clouds. The light- 
ning was very intense and abundant, and frequently directed to 
the ground. The thunder was loud and sharp. At seven A. M. 
the storm was over the place abovementioned, when the inhabit- 
ants suddenly heard a noise quite distinct from the thunder, 
like that of a carriage descending with violence over a rough 
road. Its direction, like that of the storm, was from S. W. to 
N.E. Its duration full seven minutes, and its intensity at last 
frightful. 
An inhabitant, Nicholas Etienne, was at this time on the road 
with his waggon; being alarmed he stopped, and heard a clat- 
tering noise mingled with the principal sound, and at last a dull 
explosion when the meteor struck the ground.. At the moment 
’ 
