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X. 



METEORIC STONES. 



THE histories of all nations, in early times, abound with 

 fabulous accounts of natural phenomena. Showers of blood 

 and of flesh ; battles of armed men in the air ; animals of 

 different descriptions uttering articulate sounds are a few of 

 the tales which we meet with in the annals of ancient Rome : 

 and the lively imagination of Oriental countries has infinitely 

 varied this catalogue of wonders. Of such incidents, however, 

 it has frequently been found possible to give some explanation 

 consistent with the ordinary laws of nature, after the nar- 

 ratives have been freed from the fictions with which super- 

 stition or design had at first mingled them. "But it is singular 

 with what uniformity the notion of showers of stones has pre- 

 vailed in various countries, at almost every period of society ; 

 with how few additions from fancy the story has been propa- 

 gated ; and how vain all attempts have proved, to account, 

 by natural causes, for the phenomenon, with whatever modi- 

 fications it may be credited. Accordingly, philosophers have 

 rejected the fact, and either denied that stones did fall, or 

 affirmed, at least, that if they fell on one part of the earth, 

 they were previously elevated from another. The vulgar 

 have as stedfastly believed that they came from beyond the 

 planet on which we live ; and every day's experience seems 

 now to increase the probability, that in this instance, as in 

 some others, credulity has been more philosophical than 

 scepticism. 



There are two methods of inquiring into the origin of those 

 insulated masses which are said to have fallen into different 



