Stones /aid to have fallen from the Heavens. 347 



correa account was given of it at that time in the abbe Ber- 

 tholon's Journal d' Hiftoire Naturelle, together with the pro- 

 ces-verbal of the municipality of the place, which confirmed 

 the fall of this ftone. 



Another ftone was given to me by M. Darcet junior: it 

 fell at Barbotan, near Roquefort, in the month of July 1789. 

 The brother of the late Darcet, cure in the neighbourhood, 

 fent it to him, with the proces-verbal draw^i up refpecling 

 this extraordinary phcenomenon. C. Lomet, who is knowa 

 to feveral members of the Inftitute, was at Agen on the day 

 when this kind of meteor appeared in the atmofphere. The 

 following is the account which he gave me ot it : 



" It appeared as a very bright fire-ball, the light of which 

 was as pure as that of the fun ; it had the fize of a common 

 air-balloon, and was long enough vifible to throw the inha- 

 bitants of the country inlto the greateft con Vernation ; after 

 which it burft, and difappeared. A few days after, fome pea- 

 fants broutrht ftones, which they faid were the refult of the 

 fall of the^meteor : but at that period they were laughed at. 

 What they faid was confidered as fables ; and thofe to whom 

 the ftones'were oftered, would not accept of them. The pea- 

 fants would have now more reafon to laugh at philofophers." 

 The third kind of thcfe ftones is that brought from Be- 

 nares in the Eaft Indies, which fell on the 19th of Decem- 

 ber 1798, exhibiting the very fame phenomena as were ob- 

 ferved under fimilar circum (lances in other countries. It 

 was given to me by C. De Dree and by C. Saint-Amans, 

 who brought it from England. 



AH thele ftones have a fimilar appearance, and one might 

 readily believe that they had been detached from the fame 

 niafs. Their furface is blackifli, fmooth, and, as it were, 

 varniftied by a commencement of fufion. The infide is oi a 

 whitifti gray colour marked with a greater or lefs number of 

 brown fpots, or fpots of a darker gray colour than the reft of 

 the mafs. Thofe, however, found at Benares, and in \ ork- 

 (hire, are whiter in the interior part than ihoie found in 

 France. There are obferved in them white pyrites, the frac- 

 ture of which is very much lamcllated ; globules of metallic 

 and duelile iron, fome of which weigh 46 Knglilh grains; 

 but this iron has a whiter colour, and a greater degree of 

 hardnefs, than common iron. The caufe of this ditlercnce 

 will be feen hereafter. 



1 wiflied to have been able to fubjea to a feparatc anaylfis 



each of the conftituent principles of ihefe ftones fenfible to 



the eye: but they are fo intimately mixed, that it was im- 



poflible to feparate thein cxaaiy. By patience, however, 



y I was 



