SiJZ French National Injllfute t 



FRENCH NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 



Proceedings during the laft quarter of the year lo, conti- 

 nued from our laft Number. 



NATURAL PHlLOSOPHr. 



Of Meteors fuppoj'ed to fall under the form of Stoiies. 



A great deal has been faid of ftones which have fallen 

 from the clouds ; it was long believed that this was ona 

 -of the forms affumed by thunder in its fall ; they were then 

 confidered as the produft of the explofion of certain lumi- 

 nous balls, which are fometimes obferved. The rarety of 

 thefe phnenomena, however, which has not allowed of their 

 being feen at a fhort diftance by obfervers poircfll-d of intel- 

 ligence, and at the fame time worthy of credit, and which 

 feems hitherto to have refcrved them for the eyes of the vul- 

 gar, fo much inclined to exaggeration, has prevented the 

 learned from believing in the exiftence of thefe ftones. 



However, moft mincralogical colleftions, contain a great 

 number of ftones, to which this origin has been afcribcd. 

 They exhibit exterior uniform characSlers : a fpecific gravity 

 nearly equal, and by analyfis, give the fame component parts, 

 among which is nickel, a fubftance rarely found at the fur- 

 face of the earth ; and iron in a metallic ftate, which is ne- 

 ver met with in volcanic produftions, to which thefe ftones 

 in other refpe6ts feem to be very analogous. 



Thefe remarks have induced Mr. Howard, and Count de 

 Bournon, to think that, however doubtful the fall of ftones 

 from the atmofpheric regions may be, it ought to be fubjefted 

 to accurate examination. They have colletled the different 

 teftimonies in a paper read before the Royal Society of London, 

 and C, Pictet thought it proper to prefent it to the clafs, that 

 the attention of philofophers maybe directed to this fubjefl, 

 in order that the pha;nomenon, if true, may be confirmed ; 

 or, if only an illufion fupported by popular error, may be 

 confined for ever to the clafs of errors. 



CHEMlSTaV. 



On the Vrufjiates of Barjites and Lime. 



After the bafes of a theory have been eftabliflied on Im- 

 portant fafls well confirmed, and when by a methodical ar- 

 rangement of the fcience they have been diftributed, as we 

 may fay, into regions, the communications between which 

 are knownj it remains to review them in detail, in order that 



all 



