METEORIC STONES. 



219 



About the time that Mr. Howard was engaged in these 

 interesting researches, and before he had published the result 

 of them, M. Vauquelin happened also to be occupied with the 

 very same subject. He analyzed, though by a different 

 process, the Benares stone, and two others which fell in 1789 

 and 1790 in the south of France. The results of his experi- 

 ments agreed with those of our distinguished countryman in 

 every particular ; and we are now entitled to conclude, with 

 perfect confidence, that the stones which have at different 

 times fallen upon the earth, in England, France, Italy, and 

 the East Indies, are precisely of the same nature, consisting 

 of the same simple substances arranged in "similar compounds, 

 nearly in the same proportions, and combined in the same 

 manner, so as to form heterogeneous aggregates whose 

 general resemblance to each other is complete. We are 

 further warranted in another important inference, that no 

 other bodies have as yet been discovered on our globe which 

 contain the same ingredients ; and, more particularly, that 

 the analysis of these stones has made us acquainted with a 

 species of pyrites not formerly known, nor anywhere else to 

 be found. 



The general analogy between these stones and the masses 

 of native iron found in different parts of the world, was too 

 striking to escape the eminent inquirers who have investi- 

 gated this subject. They resemble each other in their ex- 

 ternal character, though not by any means so closely as the 

 stones ; but in one circumstance of their chemical composition 

 they have a remarkable similarity, both among themselves, 



