Account of a Fall of Meteoric Stones. 47 



impressed with the idea that these stones contained gold 

 and silver, they subjected them to all the tortures of an- 

 cient alchemy, and the goldsmith's crucible, the forge, 

 and the blacksmith's anvil, were employed, in vain, to 

 elicit riches which existed only in the imagination. 



Two miles south-east from Mr. Prince's, at the foot 

 of Tashowa-hill, a fifth mass fell. Its fall was distinctly 

 heard by Mr. Ephraim Porter and his family, who live 

 within 40 rods of the place, and in full view. They saw 

 a smoke rise from the spot, as they did also from the 

 hill, where they are positive that another stone struck, 

 as they heard it distinctly. At the time of the fall, 

 having never heard of any such thing, they supposed 

 that lightning had struck the ground, but after three or 

 four days, hearing of the stones which had been found 

 in their vicinity, they were induced to search, and the 

 result was the discovery of a mass of stone in the road, 

 at the place where they supposed the lightning had 

 struck. It penetrated the ground to the depth of two 

 feet in the deepest place ; the hole was about twenty 

 inches in diameter, and its margin was coloured blue, 

 from the powder of the stone struck off in its fall. 



It was broken into fragments of moderate size, and, 

 from the best calculations, might have weighed twenty 

 or twenty-five pounds. 



The hole exhibited marks of much violence, the turf 

 being very much torn, and thrown about to some dis- 

 tance. 



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