METEORS. 147 



existence cannot be doubted, although no really 

 satisfactory explanation has been offered. 



Another type of meteors comprises the bodies 

 termed respectively as bolides, uranoliths, and 

 aerolites, stones which fall to the Earth from 

 the sky. In 1800 the French Academy declared 

 the accounts of stones having fallen from the 

 heavens to be absolutely untrue. Three years 

 later an aerolite fell at Laigle, in the Depart- 

 ment of Orne, on April 26, 1803, attended by 

 a terrific explosion. In the words of Flammarion, 

 " Numerous witnesses affirmed that some minutes 

 after the appearance of a great bolide, moving 

 from south-east to north-east, and which had 

 been perceived at Alen9on, Caen, and Falaise, 

 a fearful explosion, followed by detonations like 

 the report of cannon and the fire of musketry, 

 proceeded from an isolated black cloud in a 

 very clear sky. A great number of meteoric 

 stones were then precipitated on the surface of 

 the ground, where they were collected, still 

 smoking, over an extent of country which 

 measured no less than seven miles in length." 



Some aerolites, instead of being shattered into 

 fragments, have been observed to fall to the 

 Earth intact, and bury themselves in the ground. 

 Numerous instances have been observed during 

 the last century, and masses of meteoric stones 



