256 On the Fall of Stones from the Cloudsi 



a red cloud, from which an immense quantity of reddish sand 

 was precipitated, completely different from the sands which ex- 

 ist in that country. Some authors have regarded this sand as 

 a ferruginous oxide. W'liatever may he the case, the reality of 

 this phaenomenon is equalh' constant with that of the ferruginous 

 rain observed in the Atlantic Sea in 1/19* at 45° kit. and 

 32" long, at a distance of five or six leagues from the mainland. 

 This shower, which was preceded bv a very strong light, lasted 

 upwards of nine hours, without the air being disturbed f. 



The different kinds of residues or of precipitates mentioned, 

 are new jjroofs of the atmospheric origin of aerolites. In fact, 

 it is impossible, and perhaps even absurd, to ascribe all those 

 •howers and globes of fire to the volcanic eru])tions of the moon, 

 or to portions of pl?.nets. If tlierefore we are obliged to assign 

 to them an atmospheric origin, we can scarcely refrain from 

 doing the same with respect to aerolites ; since these meteors,' 

 wliatever may be their name, pass so insensibly from the one to 

 the other, and resemble each other so closely that the origin 

 ascribed to the former of these phienomena cannot be withheld 

 from the latter. 



In short, the difficulties of which we have given a succinct 

 account had been long felt ; and if an atmospheric origin has 

 hot been universally assigned to aerolites as the mo»t probable, 

 it is because some very specious objections occurred to this 

 opinion. We must confess that the formation and fall of aero- 

 lites is a phffiuomenon so singular, and so different from all those- 

 whose origin we can trace, that we are always more likely to 

 attain the truth by attacking a theory v/hich endeavours to ac- 

 count for it, than by defending that which seems to have most 

 probability. 



The strongest objection which has been brought against the 

 atmospheric origin of aerolites, that which rests on their com- 

 pactness and gravity, shows how difficult it is to conceive the 

 formation in the atmosphere of bodies so heavy and large. How 

 is it possible, it may be asked, that particles much heavier than 

 the air can rise into the higher regions where meteorolites ap" 

 pear, and that metallic particles thus vaporized should remain 

 suspended in the atmosphere until they have assumed the form 

 of balls, or a mass of a certain volume ? We may however 

 remark on this head, that the particles which compose the balls 

 of fire, and which no person has ever said came from the moon, 



* Hist. Nat. de I'Air, by Kichard, tome v. Lithologie Atmospherique 

 by Izarn. 

 - 1 Pere Feuillce exhibited spccirnens of tliissaiid to the Academy of 

 Sciences. As it was similar to that of an adjoinini; river, it was supposed 

 t'} harp been carried wjp by a water spout. 



must 



