158 A HISTORY OF 



drop, in a great column of water, at once upon the earth, and pro- 

 duce an instant inundation,* which could not readily have happened 

 nad they been caused by the gyration of a whirlwind only. Indeed, 

 every conjecture, regarding these meteors, seems to me entirely unsa- 

 tisfactory. They sometimes appear in the calmest weather at sea, of 

 which I have been an eyewitness ; and, therefore, these are not caused 

 by a whirlwind. They are always capped by a cloud ; and, therefore, 

 are not likely to proceed from fires at the bottom. They change 

 place ; and therefore suction seems impracticable. In short, we still 

 want facts, upon which to build a rational theory ; and, instead of 

 knowledge, we must be contented with admiration. To be well ac- 

 quainted with the appearances of nature, even though we are ignorant 

 of their causes, often constitutes the most useful wisdom. 



But among all the wonders that have lately engaged the attention 

 of the philosopher and the chymist, is the circumstance, that after the 

 explosion of certain luminous meteors, heavy stones, varying in bulk 

 and number, have almost constantly fallen from them to the earth. 

 Credibility in a fact, for which not even a conjectural cause in the 

 remotest degree probable could be assigned, was for some time sus- 

 pended ; but the proofs are now so numerous, and of such respectable 

 authority, that it can no longer be doubted. 



In July, 1794, about twelve stones fell near Sienna in Tuscany, as 

 related by the Earl of Bristol. December 13, 1795, a large stone of 

 fifty-six pounds weight, fell at Wold cottage in Yorkshire, and is de- 

 scribed by Captain Topham. February 19, 1796, a stone of ten 

 pounds weight fell in Portugal, an account of which is given by Mr. 

 Southey. December 19, 1798, showers of stones fell at Benares in 

 the East Indies, upon the testimony of J. Lloyd Williams, Esq. April 

 26, 1803, according to M. Fourcroy, several stones, from ten to four- 

 teen pounds weight, fell near L'Aigle in Normandy. 



Various conjectures have been made, to account for their appear- 

 ance; but such is the obscurity of the subject, that no opinion in the 

 slightest degree probable has yet been advanced. It was at first sup- 

 posed, that they had been thrown out of volcanoes, but the immense 

 distance from all volcanoes renders this opinion of little value. 

 Chaldni endeavoured to prove, that the meteors from which they fell, 

 were bodies floating in space, unconnected with any planetary system, 

 attracted by the earth in their progress, and kindled by their motion 

 in the atmosphere. Laplace suggests the probability of their having 

 been thrown off by the volcanoes of the moon ; but the meteors which 

 almost always accompany them, and the swiftness of their horizontal 

 motion, persuade us to reject this opinion. Sir William Hamilton, 

 and Mr. King, with greater probability, consider them as concretions 

 actually formed in the atmosphere. After all, we must be content to 

 leave this phenomenon (as also the showers of sulphur and the vast 

 masses of iron said to have fallen in South America and Siberia, and 

 supposed to have their origin from the same causes) to the ace ttmu 

 <ated wisdom of future ages. 



Phil. Trans, vol. iv. p. 2, 108. 



