Trench Xaiional h^Uuie. 1S7 



thick. C. Jekel has eftablilhed a manufaftory hi order to 

 make an ufef'ul apphcation of thefe relults fur the ufe of the 

 navy. 



Phvsicai. pakt, read by Lacro'iy. 



On the Sioues fuppofcd to have fallen from the CJoiicls. 



The attention of philofnphers has been again directed to 

 the fincular ftones the orioin of which is unknown, and 

 which are fiippofed to have fallen from the clouds. The 

 French chcaiifts were defirous of proving by experiments the 

 identity of thefe ftones, and of afcertaining their component 

 parts, already indicated by Mr. Howard. 



C Va-iouelin procured fome fpecimens of the ftones, ana- 

 Ivfed bv Mr. Howard, found at Benares in the Eaft Indies, 

 in Yorkflnre, at Siena in Italy, and at Bologna: to ^vhich 

 he added fome of thofe which fell in France in 1789 ; at Bar- 

 botan near Roqueton, and Creon in the pariOi of .hdiac, in 

 1790. He remarked, as Mr. Howard did, that thel'e Hones 

 liave fiich a perfect rcfemblance to each other that it is al- 

 mofl impoflible to di(lino;uifii them. He \yas convinced by 

 various analyfes that thev all contain the fame principles, 

 namely, filex, manganefe, iron, nickel, and fulphur. Thefe 

 refults, analogous to thofe obtained by Mr. Howard, and the 

 work in which Dr. Chladni, known by his ingenious expe- 

 riments on vibrating furfaces, has collected all the accounts 

 ptibliflicd refpefting the fall of tliefe flones, concur to render 

 it probable that their origin is foreign to our g-lobe ; for hi- 

 therto none of a fimilar kind have been found ui the interior 

 parts of it. 



The readinc: of this interefting memoir gave rife to a dif- 

 cuflion the refults of which muft be here mentioned, as they 

 afford new motives to induce philofophers to examine and 

 appreciate the different teliimonies, in confei[uence of which 

 the ftones in queftion have been fuppcfed to have fallen from 

 the clouds. When a phamomenon is announced, it we were 

 able to afcertain, by a complete enumeration of the difl^ercnt 

 phyfical agents, that none of them is capable of producing 

 jt, the impoHibility of the phoenomcnon would be the evi- 

 dent refult, and confequentlv the faKity of the account. 



But, on the other hand, when we find a caul'e which efia- 

 bliflies the probability of it, if found logic forbids us to afcribe 

 itcxclufnely to thi> caufe, it commands us at the fame time 

 to fubUitute doubt for complete negation, and to employ every 

 pieans podible of fonfirming the facH, becaufc it is not re- 

 pugija^it to the general laws of nature. 



Clwrnids 



