Objervations on Fire-Balls, 343 
accumulations of matter; which when they approach too near 
our earth muft fall down, That material bodies aétually 
exift in the rémoteft regions is {hewn both by the fingle and 
accumulated luminous fparks which Dr. Schroter faw pals 
over the field of his telefcope, as alfo by the fhooting {tars 
_ which pafs by our earth, probably at a greater diftance and 
with greater velocity than to allow their being attracted by 
it, and made to fall to its furface, and ta which, fire-balls on 
their firft appearance, when they feem to approach like a lu- 
minous point, have a perfect refemblance. There ate many. 
reafons for inducing us to believe that fhooting ftars cannot 
be mere eletric phenomena without the prefence of fome 
coarfer fubftances. 
The paradoxicalnefs of this mode of explanation, which is 
contrary to no known obfervations of nature, is rather ap- 
parent than real, and confifts only in this, that people have 
not been accuftomed to it, or that, on account of the rarity 
of thefe phenomena, many facts of this kind have been de- 
nied, or have efcaped notice. For this reafon, after I had 
written the Treatife on the Mafs of Iron difeovered by Pro- 
feffor Pallas, I hefitated whether I fhould publith it, becaufe 
T expected that it would meet with confiderable oppofition. 
The more I endeavoured however to compare, without par- 
tiality for any fyftem, the obfervations already made, which 
eorrefpond fo much with each ather, the more I found that 
thefe phenomena could not properly be explained in any 
other manner, without either contradiéting obfervations al- 
ready made, or well-known laws of nature; fo that I fee no 
grounds for retracting any thing I have advanced on this 
fubjedt, 
I. Hif- 
