3/2 Mcieoric Stdne. 



the. end of the tunnel it has been discovered to contain rich 

 copper ore. The usual means of following this lode are 

 employed, and we may doubtless expect to hear that from 

 This and the other parts of this curious and interesting un- 

 dertaking, the proprietors will in time be amply repaid for 

 their spirit and enterprise. 



METEORIC STONE. 



• On the 13th of December 1803, between eleven and 

 twelve in the forenoon, the inhiiLntants of ihe village of 

 St. Nicholas, near the small village of Maesing, "were 

 alarmed by a noise which resembled the report of several 

 cannons. A peasant went out from his house to see what 

 v.as the matter; and looking at the clouds, which became 

 dark and gloon)y, he heard a singular hissing in the air, 

 and observed something fall on a barn with a loud noise. 

 On entering the barn he found a stone which had broken 

 the rafters of the roof by its fall, and taking it up found 

 that it had the smell of sulphur, and that its heat was more 

 than temperate: it weighed three pounds and a quarter. 



There are several instances in Bnvaria and Austria of the 

 fall of such stones. On the 20th of November, 1768, one 

 tell cit Mauerkirchen that weighed 3S pounds : it was of a 

 triangular form, and only eight inches in thickness ; it wan 

 accompanied with the same piirenomena in the atmosphere, 

 cxce|it that it was almost as dark as at midnight, and the 

 stone by its fall made a hole in the earth two feet and a half 

 in depth. 



Tu the environs of Eichsiadt a similar stone fell several 

 years ago in the month of January during a severe cold, the 

 ground being then covered with^snow. 



The first-mentioned stone had a thin blackish crust, 

 v.hieh seemed to be bituminous on the fracture : it was of 

 an -ash gray colour, earthy, and rcscmblmg hardened clay, 

 buV without any odour. By analysis it contained native 

 iron, or iron in the metallic state, which appeared in the 

 form of small sliining particles ; martial pyrites in small 

 bright grain?, which when pounded gave a black powder ; 

 diifcreat flattened ma-:ses of a black and dark brown colour, 

 vluch were distinguished by their harditess, and were ex- 

 ceedingly bright ; some small grains of a cubical form ; 

 and siiiall ydlowish transjjarent leaves or laminae, with 

 <lLas i:/ii:jz, which had the appearance of quartz, but which 

 was noi so hard. With ihc microscope there were re- 

 marked yellowish while melallic points, which resembled 

 the ))iaQ;net, and which probably were metallic nickel. 



4 ' The 



