have fallen from the Atmofphere. 3^5 



Among the phsenomena to which this refletSlion may be 

 applied, there is none more remarkable than the fall of (tones, 

 produced, accordmg to the anlients, by thunder. This is 

 what they cal'ed thunder-bolts, an expreffion long ago ba- 

 niftied to the domains of poetry, and which it would appear 

 ought to acf]uire a place in the language of philofophy. 



The antient hiltorians all make frequent mention of the 

 produ(!:lion of ihefe ftones. No doubt was entertained re- 

 fpefting them in the middle ages; but the difficulty of ac- 

 counting for them induced us not onlv to fufpend our belief 

 until called forth bv more regular obfervation, which was 

 very prudent, but alfo, which was lefs reaionable, to carry 

 with us in this refearch a predetermination to lee nothing, or 

 to deny what we had feen. 



Notwithllanding this difpofition, inftances have been fo 

 multiplied before our eves, and in fo uniform a manner, that 

 it becomes difficult not to admit the general faft, whatever 

 opinion may be adopted in regard to the caufe. Stones ab- 

 folutely foreign to the foil where they were found, and all 

 having the greateft refeniblance to each other, have been 

 colietSled, in Portugal in 1796, in Alface in , in York- 



{hire in 1796, at Sienna in 1794, at Benares in 1798, ia 

 Bohemia in 1753, near Paris in 1768. Several have been 

 found ftill warm ; and uniform tradition rtates, that they 

 were feen to fall from the atmofjihere in the lime of light- 

 ning, and particularly during the burlling of luminous me- 

 teors, the production of which often accompanies Itorms. 

 The papers of Mr. Howard and of Count Bournon contain 

 very faiisfaitory details in regard to every thing obfcrved in 

 regard to the nature and fall of thefe ftones. 



The Journal de Phyjicjue, Brumairc, an xi, contains a 

 memoir of C. Patrin, who, denying the celeftial origin of 

 thefe ftones, fuppufes that they have only been uncovered 

 and forcecKfrom the earth by the contaiSl of thunder. But 

 before this hv])olheris can l)e eftabliihcd, would it not he ne- 

 celfarv that in the |)taces where thefe ftones have been found, 

 and in others, firnilir ones ihould have tjeen )irevioufly dif- 

 eovered at the deptli of a foot, or of fome inches below the 

 iurfacc? For why (hould they ihow ihemfelves at the furface 

 of the earth only after thunder ? Why (hould they conllantly 

 efcape the jjluugh and tiic fpade of the farmer, the pick- axe 

 yf the ditcher, and the relearches of the mineralogilt ? 



To admit that thefe ftones have been thrown up iuio thd 



atmof^jhere by volcanoes, feems to be attended with the fame 



difficulty; for all ihoie analvfed by Vauquelin contain a large 



pruportign of iron and nickel, in the native Itate, mixed with 



A a a ma^neria. 



