254 Conje&ures on the Stones which 



thcfe ftones have a refemblance to each other by their phy- 

 sical chara£lcrs and their chemical compofition. 



What are the caufes which can produce Hones of this kind, 

 and communicale to them fo rapid and fo finaular a motion ? 

 How comes it they are always penetrated with fire? Thefe 

 are queftions for which at prefent it would be difficult to af- 

 lign plaufible reafons. 



But whatever thefe caufes may be, if multiple they muft 

 be of the fame nature, fince all the ftones which have fallen 

 in countries fo different have in every refpedl a refemblance 

 to each other. 



Do they owe their origin to volcanoes? But where are 

 thefe volcanoes? We are not yet acquainted with them; 

 and ftones fjmilar to thofe in queftion have never been found 

 among the produAions of any of the known volcanoes. Is 

 the atmqfphere the medium in which they are formed? But 

 how can we conceive that fubftances fo heavy as earths and 

 metals could exift in fufficient quantity, and remain long 

 enough fufpendcd in a fluid fo light as air? Ifwefuppofe 

 that thefe bodies exided in the atmofphere, whence did they 

 originally come, and what means were fo powerful as to 

 imite them, and to form of them malTes fa heavy and fo vo- 

 luminous? 



The opinion which makes them come from the moon, 

 however extraordinary it may appear, is, perhaps, the Icaft 

 improbable; and if it be true, that no dire6t proofs can be 

 given of this opinion, it is equally certain that no well- 

 founded reafoning can be oppofed to it. 



The moft prudent courfe to be purfued in this ftate of 

 things is freely to acknowledge, that we are, entirely unac- 

 quainted with the origin of thcfe ftones, and of the caufes 

 which produced them. 



LXIII. ConjeBures on the Stones tuh/ch ha<ve fallen from 

 the Atmofphere. JS)'Eusebius Salvkrte*. 



J HE antients never entertained any doubt in reo-ard to 

 what they obferved. As the natural fcicnces among them 

 were only collcdtions of fafts, no theory compelled them to 

 contradi£l their obfervatious. We accufe ihem of often 

 having fcen without examining; but llioush we examine 

 better ourfclvcs, we are often obliged to abjure our fcepti- 

 cifm, and at length to fee wliat tht antients law beforQ us. 



* Fiova the Ann^t^s de Cbir-nf, No. ijj. 



AjTionfif 



