344 METEORS. 



people going to the place the hole was found, and digging 

 out the stone it was found to have entered three feet 

 deep and weighed 360 Ibs, which makes its size equal to 

 a cube of about thirteen inches the side. No doubt has 

 ever been entertained of this fact ; and cotemporary writ- 

 ers all agree in its general belief by the neighborhood, 

 and the natives of the place must have known that in 

 their wheat field no such stone or hole had formerly 

 existed. 



In September, 1753, several stones fell, accompanied 

 with loud noises in the province of Bresse, a little west of 

 Geneva ; particularly one fell at Pont-de-Vesle, and one 

 at Liponas, at nine miles' distance from each other. The 

 sky was clear, and the weather warm. A loud noise and 

 hissing sound were heard at those two places, and for 

 many miles round, at the time the stones fell. The stones 

 appeared exactly similar to each other, of a darkish, dull 

 color, very heavy, and their surface showing as if they 

 had suffered a violent degree of heat. The largest 'weigh- 

 ed about 20 Ibs., and penetrated about six inches into the 

 ploughed ground ; a circumstance which renders it high- 

 ly improbable that they could have existed there before 

 the explosion. This phenomenon has been described by 

 the astronomer Delalande, who seems to have carefully 

 examined on the spot the truth of the circumstances he 

 describes. 



It is related by Paul Lucas, the traveller, that when he 

 was at Larissol, a town in Greece, near the gul of Sa- 

 lonica, a stone of 72 Ibs. weight fell in the neighborhood. 

 It was observed to come from the northward, with aloud 

 hissing noise and seemed to be enveloped in a small 

 cloud, which exploded when the stone fell. It looked 

 like iron dross and smelled of sulphur. 



In the year 176S, three stones were presented to the 

 Academy of Sciences at Paris, which had fallen in dif- 

 ferent parts of France ; one at Luce, in the Maine ; 

 another at Aire in the Artois, and the third at Cotentin. 

 These were all externally of the very same appearance ; 

 and Messrs Fougcraux, Cadet, and Lavosier, drew up a 

 particular report on the first of them. They state, that 

 on the 18th of September, 1768, between four and five, 

 afternoon, there was seen near the village of Luce, in Ie 



