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LXX. Account of a Meteoric Stone which fell in the Environs 
of Langres. Communicated to M. Viney by M. Pistor.xr, 
Physician at Langres*. 
Your love for the natural sciences, and the success with which 
you cultivate them, induce me to communicate to you a meteoro- 
ogical phenomenon which has just taken place in the commune 
of Chassigny, a village situated to the south-east of Langres, 
and about four leagues distant. 
On the 3d of October 1815, at half past eight in the morning, 
the sky being clear and serene, and a gentle east wind prevailing, 
a rumbling noise was heard like the discharge of musketry and 
artillery. This noise, which seemed to come from the north-east, 
and from a cloud which hung over the horizon of an indeter- 
minate form and a gray colour, had lasted a few minutes, when 
aman at work in a vineyard at some distance from the village, 
and who had his eyes fixed on this cloud, hearing a whistling 
like that of a cannon ball, saw an opaque body fall a few paces 
from him, and which emitted a dense smoke. Having run to 
the spot, he saw a deep hole in the ground, and around it were 
fragments of stoue of a peculiar kind. Having picked up one 
of the pieces, he found it as hot as if it had been long exposed 
to a strong sun; he brought it into the village, and several in- 
habitants went out in consequence and collected pieces. Next 
day I visited the village; and having obtained one of the fragments, 
I found it resembled closely an aérolite which had been sent me 
from Germany. Having proceeded to the spot in person, I col- 
lected about sixty small pieces, some of which were soft and wet, 
and easily crumbled in the hand. 
The ball of fire which generally accompanies aérolites, was not 
perceived in this instance. Having weighed all the pieees which 
were collected, the whole weight was four kilogrammes. I have 
no doubt that all these fragments belonged to the same stone ; 
and I am even inclined to think that what I saw was only a piece 
of a larger stone which had exploded in the air. I am in pos- 
session of a piece weighing nearly one kilogramme, which is the 
half of a corner piece only, and which leads me to suppose that 
the whole stone must have weighed eight kilogrammes, _ Its very 
considerable specific gravity, as is remarked in all those stones, is 
not the same however in every fragment, some of which seem to 
_ present more density. Differences are also remarked in the co- 
lour of the erust which covers these various pieces:, in some it 
is a very deep black, and in others of a chesnut-brown only; and 
in general the less black the colour is, the more shining and 
* Annulcs de Chimie et de Physique, tome i. Jan, 1816, p. 45. 
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