110 COSMOS, 



It is very probable that a large number of these cosmical 

 bodies traverse space undestroyed by the vicinity of our 

 atmosphere, and revolve round the Sun without experiencing 

 any alteration but a slight increase in the eccentricity of their 

 orbits, occasioned by the attraction of the Earth's mass. We 

 may, consequently, suppose the possibility of these bodies 

 remaining invisible to us during many years and frequent 

 revolutions. The supposed phenomenon of ascending shooting 

 stars and fire balls, which Chladni has unsuccessfully endea- 

 voured to explain on the hypothesis of the reflection of strongly 



parte ad JSgos flumen. Quod si quis praedictum credat, simul fateatur 

 necesse est, majoris miraculi divinitatem Anaxagorae fuisse, solvique 

 rerum naturae intellectum, et confundi omnia, si aut ipse Sol lapis esse 

 ant unquam lapidem in eo fuisse credatur ; decidere tamen crebro non erit 

 dubium." The fall of a moderate-sized stone, which is preserved in the 

 Gymnasium at Abydos, is also reported to hare been foretold by Anax- 

 agoras. The fall of aerolites in bright sunshine, and when the Moon's 

 disc was invisible, probably led to the idea of sun-stones. Moreover, 

 according to one of the physical dogmas of Anaxagoras, which brought 

 on him the persecution of the theologians (even as they have attacked 

 the geologists of our own times), the Sun was regarded as-" a molten 

 fiery mass" (nvdpoQ Sicnrvpo^.) In accordance with these views of Anax- 

 agoras, we find Euripides, in Phaeton, terming the Sun " a golden 

 mass ;" that is to say, a fire-coloured, brightly-shining matter, but not 

 leading to the inference that aerolites are golden sun-stones. (See note 

 to page 101.) Compare Valckenaer, Diatribe in Eurip. perd. Dram. 

 Reliquias, 1767, p. 30. Diog. Laert., ii. 40. Hence, among the Greek 

 philosophers, we find four hypotheses regarding the origin of falling 

 stars : a telluric origin from ascending exhalations ; masses of stone 

 raised by hurricane (see Aristot., Meteor., lib. i. cap. iv. 2-13, and 

 cap. vii. 9) ; a solar origin ; and lastly, an origin in the regions of 

 space, as heavenly bodies which had long remained invisible. Ee- 

 specting this last opinion, which is that of Diogenes of Apollonia, and 

 entirely accords with that of the present day, see pages 112 and 113. It 

 is worthy of remark, that in Syria, as I have been assured by a learned 

 orientalist, now resident at Smyrna, Andrea de Nericat, who instructed 

 me in Persian, there is a popular belief that aerolites chiefly fall on 

 clear moonlight nights. The ancients, on the contrary, especially 

 looked for their fall during lunar eclipses. (See Pliny, xxxvii. 10, p. 164. 

 Solinus, c. 37. Salm., Exerc., p. 531 ; and the passages collected by 

 Ukert, in his Geogr. der Griechen und Romer, th. ii. 1. s. 131, note 14.) 

 On the improbability that meteoric masses are formed from metal-dis- 

 solving gases, which, according to Fusinieri, may exist in the highest 

 strata of our atmosphere, and, previously diffused through an almost 

 boundless space, may suddenly assume a solid condition, and on the 

 penetration and misceability of gases, see my Relat. Hist., t. i. p. 526. 



