hi I he Keighl'ourhood of Luigle. S25 



t went first to Alencon, fifteen leagues west-south-west 

 of Laig'le, and in going thither I learned that a globe of 

 fire iiad been seen proeeeding towards the north. The ap- 

 pearanee of this globe had been followed by a violent ex- 

 plosion. This took place on the 26th of April 1802, at 

 one in the afternoon. By the direction of this phaenome- 

 non, the day, and particularly the hour, I judged that this 

 had been the commencement of the meteor of Laigle. 



At Alencon nothing had been heard — in consequence, na 

 doubt, of the usual noise \\ hich prevails in a large town j 

 but if I received only vague reports, I acquired a very im- 

 portant certainty, bv the mineralogieal collections of the 

 country, that nothing exists in the neighbourhood of Laigle 

 which has any resemblance to the meteoric stones. 



From Alencon I proceeded to Laigle, traversing the vil- 

 lages, conducted by the accounts given me by the inhabi" 

 tants. All of them had heard the meteor on the day and 

 at the hour mentioned. In this manner I reached Laigle, 

 and proceeded to the house of our colleague Le Blond ; and 

 I was happv to find in him the intelligence of a philoso- 

 pher and the kindness of a friends 



The meteor did not burst at Laigle, but at the distance of 

 half a league from it. I saw the awful traces of this phae- 

 nomenon ; I traversed all the places where iit had been 

 heard ; I collected and compared the accounts of the inha- 

 bitants : at last I found some of the stones theniselves on 

 the spot, and they exhibited to me physical characters which 

 admit no doubt of the reality of their tall. 



If wc first consider the physical testimonies, no meteoric 

 stones hid been found in the hands of the inhabitants be- 

 fore the explosion of the t]6th of April. The mineralogieal 

 collections, formed on the spot with the greatest care for 

 several years, contained nothing of the kind* 



The ibunderies, iron works, and mines, in the neigh- 

 bourhood which I visited, exhibited nothing in their pro- 

 ductions or in their scoriae which had the least affinity to 

 tliese substances. No traces of a volcano are found ni the 

 country. 



All of a sudden, and only since the time of the meteor, 

 these stones have been found on the ground and in the 

 hands of the inhabitants, who are better acquainted with 

 them than any Other person. 



These stones aie found only in a certain extent, in ground 

 foreign to the sub?l;mces llicy contain, and in places where, 

 on account of their size and their number, it is impossible 

 thev could have escaped notice. 



Vol. XVL No. Q-3. P The 



