154 On Meteoric Slo?ies. 



conical copper having its greatest diameter downwards : of 

 course it will form an inclined shed ; so that, if the rain should 

 trickle down the outside, it will he prevented from entering the 

 bottle. We could not at first account for so great a difference 

 between the two places of observation, till 1 suggested the pro- 

 bability of the rain entering from the above cause. 

 Yours very respectfully, 

 Manchester, Aug. 16. 1815. ThomAS HaNSON. 



ON METEORIC STONES. 



Sir, — As every fact relative to the subject of meteoric 

 stones, — now that the existence of such stones is no longer 

 a matter of doubt either among philosophers or the vulgar, — 

 is entitled to attention ; and as some of the most interesting 

 observations on tiiis sulyect are contained in ditterent Numbers 

 of your valuable Philosophical Magazine; I hope that you will 

 not deem the following observation unworthy of republication. 

 I give it to you entire in the words of the author, Michael Bern- 

 hard Valentin, from the Epkcmerldes Naturce Curiosormrif 

 for the year. 



" Crystallus inter aiandines e nuLibiis decicieiis." 



" Anno superiori 1724, Opilio in prsefectura Alsfeldiensi rnri 

 pede suo innitens sub oborta tempestate observat lapidem pellu- 

 cidum inter grandines delabentcm, quern, cum vitrum secaret, 

 Judffii, quibus eundem ostendebat, pro adamante habentes, pre- 

 tium non contemnenduni illi offerebant. Inventor autem majus 

 inde lucrum spcrando Francofurtum se conferens, thesaurumque 

 suum gemmario offert, (pii lapidem hunc non tain pro adamante^ 

 quam optimas notae crvstallo habendum esse judicabat. Rem 

 certissime ita gestam esse minister Verbi Divini illius loci sancte 

 niihi asseveravit. Possibilitatem ejus suo jam tempore adstruxit 

 Cel. Bohnius, qui crvstalluni habuit, in cujus meditulho gutta 

 aquae limpidae con tinebatur : unde conchidit gemmas pellucidas 

 ex aqua gcnerari. Idem confirmat pluvia gemmea a Balbino in 

 Bohemia observata, de qua Armamentario Art. et Nat. a ine 

 dim edito." 



" Giessa Augtislam V'lnd. d. 18 JV/oy. An. 1727, missa*.'" 



Michael Bernhard Valentin, the writer of the preceding ob- 

 servation, was a professor at Giessen in Germany, and the au- 

 thor or editor of many works or memoirs, of more or less impor- 

 tance, in the latter end of the 17th and the earlier part of the 

 ISth century. Several of his papers, published in the Epheme- 

 ridcs Academicc Nalurw, &'c. I have read with much satisfac- 



* Acta Fhi/sko-Medica Arademifc C^sarea Leopnldino- Carolina Naturfe 

 Cnr'wsorum exhibcntia Ephemerides, 4c. Vol. ii. Observutio cxxii. p. 280. — 

 Noiimbcigtc, 1730. 



tion. 



