METEORS. 341 



from the moon so as to reach the earth ; and that all the 

 phenomena of these meteors or falling stones, have a 

 surprising conformity with the circumstances which 

 would be expected to attend masses, expelled from the 

 moon by natural causes. These things unite in forming 

 a body of strong evidence, that this is, in all probability 

 actually the case. All those luminous balls however, 

 which occasionally make their' appearance in the hea- 

 vens, are involved in much obscurity. They may be all 

 of the same origin; they maybe of different natures. 

 Their transient appearance awakens a curiosity which 

 science as yet is unable to allay. 



Falling Stones. Many persons have expressed much 

 incredulity respecting the reality of stones falling from 

 the atmosphere. I have just been examining a stone 

 which fell in Virginia ; it very much resembles that 

 which fell in Tennessee as described in this tract. No 

 one who has attended to this subject can have the least 

 doubt respecting the reality and the frequency of this 

 phenomenon. A stone fell in Forsyth, in Georgia, in 

 May, 1829. It is thus described by an eye-witness : 

 ' Between three and four o'clock, on the 8th instant, 

 a small black cloud appeared south from Forsyth, from 

 which two distinct explosions were heard, following 

 in immediate succession, succeeded by a tremendous 

 lumbling or whizzing noise, passing through the air ; 

 which lasted from the best accounts from two to four 

 minutes. This extraordinary noise was, on the same 

 evening accounted for by Mr Sparks and Captain Por- 

 tian, who happened to be near some negroes working 

 in a field, one mile south of this place, who discovered a 

 large stone descending through the air, weighing, as was 

 afterwards ascertained, thirtysix pounds. The stone was 

 in the course of the evening, or very early the next morn- 

 ing recovered from the spot where it fell. It had pene- 

 trated the earth two feet and a half. The outside, wore 

 the appearance as if it had been in a furnace : it was 

 covered about the thickness of a common knife blade, 

 with a black substance somewhat like lava that had been 

 melted. On breaking the stone, it had a strong sulphur- 

 ous smell, and exhibited a metallic substance resembling 

 silver. The stone however when broken, had a white 



VOL. i. NO. xiv. 31 



