AEROLITES. 



of both to impede accurate investigation. Although for 

 upwards of two thousand years the annals of different na- 

 tions had told of falls of stones, and in many instances such 

 falls had been placed beyond doubt by the testimony of irre- 

 proachable witnesses ; although the Bsetylia formed an 

 important part of the meteor worship of the ancients, and 

 the companions of Cortes saw at Cholula the aerolite which 

 had fallen on the neighbouring pyramid ; although Caliphs 

 and Mongolian princes had had swords forged of fresh-fallen 

 meteoric stones ; and even although human beings had been 

 killed by stones in their descent (a friar at Crema, in 

 1511; a monk at Milan, 1650; and two Swedish sailors 

 on board a ship in 1674) ; yet until the time of Chladni, 

 who had already earned an imperishable renown in physics 

 by the discovery of the quiescent lines shown by his figure 

 representations of sound, this great cosrnical pheenomenon 

 remained almost unheeded, and its intimate connection with 

 the rest of the planetary system unknown. Those who are 

 persuaded of this connection, if susceptible of emotions of 

 awe from the impressions of nature, will be strongly moved 

 to thoughtful contemplation, not only by the spectacle of 

 the brilliant phenomenon of meteoric showers at the August 

 or November periods, but also whenever they behold 

 & solitary falling star shoot across the sky. The pro- 

 found repose of night is suddenly interrupted, and life 

 and motion momentarily break the tranquil splendour 

 of the firmament. The spectator sees in the glimmering 

 light which marks the track of the falling star the 

 visible delineation of a portion of its orbit ; and the 

 burning asteroid brings to his mind the existence of matter 

 pervading universal space. When we compare the volume 



