EXTRACTS FROM M. PELTIER. 371 



other in different directions ; and this was true also of the 

 hinges of the same door." 



These facts are easily accounted for without supposing 

 that the forces acted in a contrary direction. Nothing is 

 more common than for light bodies, and even heavy ones to 

 be thrown towards the centre of the approaching meteor 

 with such force as to break to pieces on striking the ground, 

 and then parts of the broken body will remain, and parts 

 will be carried forward by the rear of the spout. 



This is the case with many trees, which break in their 

 fall ; the trunk remains where it fell, while the top is carried 

 sometimes to a great distance in the direction in which the 

 spout moves, and sometimes remaining attached, will only be 

 twisted round. 



In this very spout several instances of that kind occurred, 

 and also others of a similar character. For example, in the 

 house which the professor mentions as being removed from 

 its foundations, leaving one woman in a cellar and carrying 

 another away some distance, was a box of carpenter's tools; 

 and after the spout had passed on, a chisel which was in 

 the box at the approach of the spout, was found sticking fast 

 in the western wall of the house. 



This explanation does not apply to stripping off the 

 feathers from chickens, the removing of frames from looking 

 glasses without disturbing the glass, nor the drawing of 

 nails from the roofs of houses without disturbing the tiles. 

 The steam power generated or rather let loose in this meteor 

 is totally inadequate to produce these effects. All the evi- 

 dence which is known for the latter fact perhaps still leaves 

 it doubtful; but there is no doubt as to the stripping of the 

 chickens. Many proofs of it have come to my knowledge 

 beside those detailed in this book. To satisfy myself whether 

 a sudden rarefaction of air on the outside of a chicken would 

 cause an explosion of the feathers from its body, one was 

 placed in the receiver of an air pump, and a very rapid ex- 

 haustion effected without producing any such effect. 



