440 SPECIAL RESULTS IN THE UllANO LOGICAL 



which took place on the 13th of September, 17G8. On 

 that day, at half-past four in the afternoon, near the village 

 of Luce (Departement de FEure et Loire), four miles west 

 of Chartres, a dark cloud was seen, and there was heard to 

 come from it a noise like a cannon-shot, followed imme- 

 diately afterwards by a hissing in the air, occasioned by the 

 fall of a black stone moving in a curve. The fallen stone, 

 which was half sunk in the earth, weighed 7-- pounds, and 

 was so hot that it could not be touched. It was analysed, 

 but only in a very imperfect manner, by Lavoisier, Fouge- 

 roux, and Cadet. So far as was perceived the whole occur- 

 rence was unaccompanied by any luminous phenomena. 



As soon as periodical falls of shooting stars became an 

 object of observation, so that on particular nights their ap- 

 pearance was watched and waited for, it was remarked that 

 the frequency of meteors increased with increasing time from 

 midnight, and that the greatest number fell between 2 and 

 5, A.M. Even in the great fall of meteors at Cumana in 

 the night of the llth to 12th of November, 1799, my tra- 

 velling companion had seen the greatest abundance of shoot- 

 ing stars between the hours of 2-|- and 4 A.M. A very meri- 

 torious observer of these phenomena, Coulvier-Gravier, pre- 

 sented an important memoir " Sur la variation horaire des 

 etoiles filantes," to the Institut of Paris, in May 1845. It 

 is very difficult to divine the reason of such an " horary 

 variation," or why the distance from midnight should influence 

 these phsenomena. If it should be established that, under 

 different meridians, shooting stars are not seen in their 

 greatest abundance until a certain determinate period be- 

 tween midnight and day-break, we should have to assume, 

 together with a cosmical origin, the not very probable 



