On the Fall of Stones from the Clouds. 253 



and because, having had the opportunity of being jjersonally ac- 

 tjuainted with him, I agree with the judgement of Mr. Siiiger, 

 in the opening of the same paper, that Mr. Ronalds " is an elec- 

 trician of great promise, and whose scrupulous attention to the 

 essentials of accurate experimental inquiry has afforded me 

 pleasure to observe." 



I am, sir. 



Your most obedient servant, 

 Windsor, Scptcimber loll. j^ ^^ DkLUC 



XXX\'I. Olscrvalions on tlie Fall of Stones from the Cloud s^ 

 or A'liioiUes. By M. Makcel db >S£rues. 



[Concliulcd t'loin p. ^24.] 



J. HE ignited, meteors improperly called falling stars, do not 

 appear to differ from the globes just mentioned. Thus, these 

 meteors leave behind them gelatinous masses falselv attributed 

 to birds of prey, since they contain nothing which announces an 

 animal origin. To conclude: if igneous globes like falliug star>i 

 do not always Iea\'e similar residues, this is ov/ing to their being 

 composed of entirely combustible bodies, and their being con^e- 

 tjuently entirely consumed i)L-fore they reach the ground. 'We 

 may refer to this kind of phiEUomeuon the globe of fire which 

 according to Geoffroy burst in the Place du Que.snoy, on the 4tU 

 of January 17 17, that which v/as observed in America in ISOU, 

 and in the county of Suffolk in 1802. 



To tliese globes of fire must certainly be referred the sho.vers 

 of fire which can only be distingui.^hcd from thcni by their 

 greater division, whereas in the fns balls the same substance is 

 eonceutjated in one and the same Iwdy. A similar shower made 

 great ravages in Germany in the year S23, and burnt up whole 

 villages. Another shower of the same kind fell in 1571, in the 

 (irand Duchy of Hesse : after a dreadful explosion, it tiov.ed 

 througli tlie streets, without however causing the destruction of 

 the houses. A third shower of tire took place in 167S at Saeh- 

 *en-}lausen, and the iniiamed matter burnt half an hour in the 

 streets before it was extinguished. Finally, that which fell over 

 the city of Uruuswick in 1721 was so violent that they attempted 

 in vain to extinguish it by means of water. 



It would apjjcar therefore that the difference remarked be- 

 tween showers of lire ajid tliose of an oily substance whicli h:i\e 

 been seen a great many times, is founded on the circumstance 

 of the sub>>taiice of the foinicr being in a state of phosphore- 

 fccence, which is not the cas(! in tlie latter. After these singular 

 •hower-j come , thoie whose nature i'.; nuici]«iginous, and which 



accorflin;^; 



