220 COSMOS. 



nied by phenomena of sound, though without light ; finally, 

 and, indeed, the most frequently, the falls of meteoric stones 

 present themselves in close connection with brilliant lire 

 balls. Of this connection, the falls of stones at Barbotan 

 (Dep. des Landes) on the 24th of July, 1790, with a simul- 

 taneous appearance of a red fire-ball and a 'white meteoric 

 cloud,* from which the aerolites fell ; the fall of stones at 

 Benares, in Hindostan, 13th December, 1798, and that of 

 Aigle (Dep. de L'Orne) on the 26th of April, 1803, afford 

 well-described and indubitable examples. The last of the 

 phenomena here mentioned that which among all has been 

 investigated and described with the greatest care by Biot 

 has finally, 23 centuries after the great Thracian fall- of stones, 

 and 300 years since a Frate was killed by an aerolite at Cre- 

 rna,f put an end to the skepticism of the academists. A 



* Kanitz, Lehrbnch der Meteorologie, vol. iii., p. 277. 



t The great fall of aerolites at Crema and on the shores of Adda is 

 described with especial vivacity, but unfortunately in a rhetorical and 

 vague manner, by the celebrated Petrus Martyr, of Anghiera (Opus 

 Epistolarum, Amst., 1670, No. cccclxv., p. 245-246). W4iat preceded 

 the fall itself was an almost total darkening on the 4th yf September, 

 1511, at the noon hour. " Fama est, pavonem immensum in acrea Cre- 

 mensi plaga fuisse visum. Pavo visus in pyramide*m convert!, adeoquo 

 celeri ab occidente in orientem raptari cursu, tit in hone momento 

 magnam hemisphaBrii partem, doctorum inspectantium sententia, per- 

 volasse credatur. Ex nubium illico densitate tenebras fcrunt surrex- 

 isse, quales viveutium nullus unquam se cognovisse fateatur. Per earn 

 noctis faciem, cum formidolosis fulguribus, inaudita tonitrua regionem 

 circumsepserunt." " The report is, that an enormous peacock was seen 

 flying in the sky above the town of Crema. The peacock appeared to 

 change into a pyramid, and was carried from west to east with such 

 rapidity, that in a moment it seemed to traverse the whole hemisphere, 

 as some learned men imagined who saw it. Immediately afterward 

 such darkness arose from the dense ness of the clouds as was never 

 known by mortal before. During this midnight gloom, unheard-of 

 thunders, mingled with awful lightnings, resounded through that quar- 

 ter of the heavens." The illuminations were so intense, that the in- 

 habitants round Bergamo could see the whole plain of Crema during 

 the darkness. " Ex horreudo illo fragore quid irata natura in earn re- 

 gionem pepererit, percunctaberia. Saxa demisit in Cremensi planitio 

 (ubi nullus unquam sequans ovum lapis visus fuit) immensit; magnitu 

 dini, ponderis egregii. Decem fuisse reperta centilibralia sexa ferunt." 

 "You will perhaps inquire what accompanied that terrific commotion 

 of nature. On the plain of Crema, where never before was seen a stone 

 the size of an egg, there fell pieces of rock of enormous dimensions and 

 of immense weight. It is said that ten of these were found weighing 

 a hundred pounds each. Birds, sheep, and even fish were killed." 

 Under all these exaggerations, it may still bo seen that the meteoric 

 cloud out of which the stones fell must have been of uncommon black- 

 ness and thickness. The " pavo" was undoubtedly a long and broad 



