1829.] Varieties. 



monstrous being died at the age of 28 years. 

 One of the bodies died several days before 

 the other. Rerum Scoticanem Historia. 

 I. 13, p. 444. Auct. G. Buchanan. In 1723, 

 a bicephalous man was exhibited for money 

 at Madrid. Sigebert also relates that he 

 .saw a child with the upper part double, 

 single below. One ate, the other fasted. 

 Frequently they fought. One having died, 

 the other survived only a few days. 



Origin of JErolites — La Place supposes 

 jerolites to be projected from lunar volca- 

 noes. Dr. Brewster attributes to meteoric 

 stones a common origin with the four aste- 

 roids, Juno, Vesta, Ceres, and Pallas; 

 namely, the explosion of a planet inter- 

 posed between the orbits of Mars and 

 Jupiter. Of the hypotheses which give a 

 sublunary origin to meteoric stones, the 

 one most generally received is that which 

 supposes them to have been thrown from 

 terrestrial volcanoes. Another theory has 

 recently been proposed by a Dr. Butler, who 

 regards the fall of meteoric stones as wholly 

 a magnelic phenomenon ; and falling stars 

 may be considered as coming under the 

 same description. The following extracts 

 will give a general idea of this new hjrpo- 

 thesis, giving meteoric stones a mundane 

 origin :— It cannot be doubted that aU 

 solids as well as fluids, on the earth's sur- 

 face, are in a state of continual evaporation. 

 It is true that from the extreme slowness 

 with which solids evaporate, it is impossi. 

 ble to collect and exhibit the quantity of 

 matter" which they throw off in a limited 

 time. It is a recently discovered asrostatic 

 law, that on a general view, the specific 

 gravity of vapours is directly as the vola- 

 tility of the bodies from which they are 

 derived. The earths and metals do, in 

 assuming gaseous forms, become lighter 

 than any other gasses under similar pres- 

 sure and temperature. It will follov/ that 

 the highest regions of the air consist of 

 gaseous metals and earths, or their inflam- 

 mable bases, of which siHcon aluminum, 

 and iron, the chief constituents of the 

 globe, may, with probability, be supposed 

 the most abundant ; and the origin of the 

 materials of meteoric stones, is so far ac- 

 counted for. Supposing the existence of 

 strata of gaseous metals resting on the sur- 

 fece of the earth's atmosphere at that un- 

 ascertained height, where the ultimate indi- 

 . visibility of its atoms forbids its further 

 expansion into space, what would be the 

 consequence of any given volume, say a 

 cubic mile, if this compound gaseous mass 

 were, by any cause sufHcient to overcome 

 the air's resistance, and to preserve the 

 mass from too great dispersion, to be preci- 

 pitated to the depths of tie a;rial ocean, on 

 which it had previously floated ? In de- 

 scending, its bulk would be gradually dimi- 

 nished, and its heterogeneous atoms ap- 

 proximated to one another by the increasing 

 pressure of the atmosphere, tiU that degree 

 of proximity would be attained, at which 



111 



dissimilar atoms, having a powerful affinity 

 for each other, would begin to enter into 

 combination. In this case, supposing the 

 gaseous mass to consist of the usual ele- 

 ments of meteoric stor/cs, the first combi- 

 nation which would take place, woidd be 

 the union of the atoms of silicon aluminum 

 calcium, and magnesium with the oxy- 

 genous atoms of the air. The particles 

 of iron, nickel, chrome, cobalt, and sulphur, 

 not having so strong an affinity for oxygen, 

 woidd be confusedly enveloped in the fluid 

 strong mass ; and while it continued in a 

 liquid state, would have an opportunity of 

 becoming respectively oxygenated, by the 

 force of adhesive attraction, into small 

 homogeneous masses, the sulphur here and 

 there uniting with the iron, and the earthy 

 matters entering into a crystaUization more 

 or less hasty and imperfect, in proportion 

 to the rapidity of solidification, which the 

 quick abstraction of heat by the atmos- 

 phere would occasion. The acts of con- 

 densation and combination would be accom- 

 panied by the evolution of a considerable 

 quantity of latent light and heat, and ter- 

 minated by a loud e.rplosion, occasioned 

 by the sudden collapse of the surroimding 

 atmosphere ; in short, a Maze of light woidd 

 be seen, and the condensed mass would 

 appear in a fluid state, and at a white heat. 

 AVhen we consider that the earth itself is a 

 stupendous magnet, that the aurorce dart- 

 ing from its polar regions have a direct 

 reference to its magnetic poles, agitate the 

 magnetic needle, and are, therefore, almost 

 certainly magnetic phenomena, it will be 

 difficult to withhold our belief in the exis- 

 tence of an influence exerted by magnetism 

 over the temperate and equatorial regions 

 of the air ; although probably from the ex- 

 cessive flatness of the a;rial spheroid, and 

 the consequent great altitude of those 

 regions, tlie view of similar appearances is 

 denied to the inhabitants of those latitudes. 

 Admitting this, and reflecting how power- 

 fully the kindred energies of electricity and 

 galvanism control chemical affinity, we may 

 be easily led to conceive magnetism to be 

 capable of precipitating into the lower re- 

 gions of the air, independent portions of its 

 higher strata, in the manner reqiured by the 

 hypothesis. The strongest point in the 

 hypothesis. Dr. Butler considers to be that 

 of 52 substances, which in the present state 

 of chemistry are considered as simple or 

 elementary, only four are amenable to the 

 laws of magnetism. JMeteoric stones are 

 found to consist of ten elements, among 

 which are included the four magnetic bodies, 

 iron, nickel, chrome, and cobalt ; and as for 

 the remaining six substances, five of them — 

 silicon, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, and 

 sulphur — are perhaps the most abundant 

 constituents of the solid globe ; and there- 

 fore the most likely, by the lijTJOthesis, to 

 abound in those elevated regions ; and the 

 sixth, oxygen, is derived from the atmos- 

 phere itself. 



