MET 



111 



MET 



Knvirvent 



Metciiu. fashion, consisting of a square tower of hewn stone, rai- 

 > "Y"*' sed so high as to overtop the trees, and command a view 

 of the sea and the neighbouring island. The lower 

 store}- is reserved for stores and granaries ; and nt the 

 top are the apartments for the family, which are gained 

 by a stair, chiefly built on the outside, and surrounding 

 the tower. 



Many celebrated men owe their birth to this island, 

 among whom, perhaps, Theophrartiis was the most dis- 

 tingui.-lird, from having been a disciple of Plato, from 

 Ar.-totle designing him for his successor, and also for 

 the incredible number of his works. Pittacus, esteem- 

 ed by the Greek* a* one of their sages, was born in 

 Lesbos, as also Alccus and Sappho. In modern times, 

 the two brothers named Barbaroesa, the sons of a pot- 

 ter, who successively attained the rank of Dey of Al- 

 giers about the miJdle of the sixteenth century, owe 

 their birth to this island. 



Lesbos was one of the most famous islands of anti- 

 quity, but almost the whole remain* of it* grandeur 

 are totally obliterated. Nothing but the faintest traces 

 can be discovered of some of the eight cities which 

 Ptolemy says it contained. Four or five miles north- 

 wot of the town of Metelin are the ruins of a fine aque- 

 duct which has consisted originally of two arcade* of 

 grey marble surmounted by a kind of brick. In other 

 place* are *een the foundations of ancient castle* and 

 aubterraneous cisterns. A white marble chair, of the 

 age of Tiberius, which long attracted the notice of tra- 

 veller!, we have understood, ha* bean lataljr aeqwircdby 

 a Scottish Nobleman distinguished by his taste for Gre- 

 antiquities, 

 etain ha* often changed it* name According to 



Arci-l.l 



Diodorus it was called Issa ; and after being occupied 

 by seven generations of men, it was submerged by a 

 flood, separating it from the continent, and destroying 

 the whole inhabitants. Having regained sufficient fer- 

 tility after subsidence of the water-;, it was repeopled 

 at a period which some conjecture to have been 1734, 

 and others 15K) years anterior to the Christian ii-ra. 

 This island was often the theatre of warlike contentions 

 during the subsistence of the Grecian States, and the 

 influence of other nations in the Mediterranean. I'n- 

 der the name of Lesbos it became tributary to the A- 

 thenians, and afterwards formed part of the Roman Em- 

 pire. It is uncertain when this appellation was chan- 

 ged ; but Eustathius, who flourished in the twelfth cen- 

 tury, mentions that it had been lately called Myteleiw, 

 as it was anciently denominated Lesbos. The Empe- 

 ror John Paleologus ceded it to GutihiMo, a Venetian 

 Nobleman, under whose family it remained until be- 

 sieged by Mahomet, who met with a determined resis- 

 tance from the inhabitants. But their Commander 

 treacherously t>pened the gate* of the town to the ene- 

 my in 1468, on a promise of being rewarded' with the 

 sovereignty of the Island. However, Mahomet, equal- 

 ly treacherou*, put him to death when his services pro- 

 Ted no longer useful. See Diodorus Siculus, //A. ;r. 

 f" 81. Dallaway's CcM&mfMop/e, Ancient and Modern, 

 p. 312. Pococke'* Travels, vol. it. part 3. p. 15. Trant. 

 actions of tne Royal Irish Academy, vot. jit. Guy's 

 Voyaft Litter aire, toft. i. p. 898. (c) 



METELLUS. See JLOIRTHA and ROME. 

 i I Mi. See METBOROLOOY. 



Ml li.oKK -lONIi. 



METtOHOLll 



See 



M E T E O R I T 1 :. 



Meteorite. 1 H term, derived from the Greek M,'L^, i* here 

 ^zT_T..~' preferably adopted, a* the shortest and most conve- 

 J^ nient appellation of a (tony or metallic substance, which 

 falls from the air, and whose descent b, generally, pre- 

 ceded or accompanied by a fiery oaarnnr 



That stony, and even metalline bodies, have 



, edly impinged upon the earth'* surface, andfsosn, 



elevations, is a physical position from which no 



Purport of 



Meteoric 

 Jron, and 

 puUtru- 



olh,r 



C Mi n * 1 



with the 

 subject. 



sideratr and candid logician can any longer withhold 

 hi* aaunt. The object of the ensuing pages, thaaa- 

 fore, is not so much to prove the reality of such a phe- 

 nomenon, a* to supply our reader* with a summary, 

 but continuous review of it* history, or, in other word*, 

 with a transcript of it* modification*, and of the Uad 

 ing observations and reasonings to which it has given 

 rise, thus approximating the result* of various ana dis- 

 persed document*, and reducing within a desirable 

 the groundwork of future inquiry and duu 

 We may, at the same time, confidently ven- 

 to indulge the rvaionihh expectation, that our 

 exposition of fact* and nhasrvatiiin* will suffice to con- 

 vince those who have not heretofore examined the na- 

 ture of the evidence on which it rests, that the pheno- 

 me:i. n in fjur-tioti H neitiirr (!. nb'.lul nor chimerical, 

 bat entitled to all the credibility which can attach to 



present state of knowledge, we can feel no 

 i in ascribing a matroric origin to certain de- 

 i of native iron, not aierely because tradi- 

 tion accords with our opinion, but principally because 



the circumstance of their fall ha* been, in one instance Meteorite, 

 at least, duly authenticated, and because their chemi- v ' 

 cal conetitunon is, in some important particulars, ana- 

 logeo* to that of undoubted meteorites. According to 

 the discoveries of Proust and Klaproth, for example, 

 native iron, reputed meteoric, differs from that which 

 occur* in a fossil state, fay the presence of nickel. Of 

 the two piece* of Siberian iron in the Grevillian col- 

 lection, one exhibit* a cellular and ramified texture, 

 to that of some very light and porous vol- 

 slags. An attentive examination, moreover, re- 

 veal* impressions or cavities of greater or less depth, 

 ami in some of which there remains a transparent sub- 

 stance, of a yellowish-green hue. The iron itself i* 

 very mallasble, and may be cut with a knife, or flat- 

 tened under the hammer. The other specimen is more 

 solid and compact, but so blended and incorporated 

 with the yellowiib-green matter, that if the whole of 

 the latter were subtracted, the remainder would consist 

 of iron in the metallic state, and would present the 

 same cellular appearance as the preceding. The stony 

 portions of the ram position usually assame the form of 

 mall nodules, generally of an irregular outline, but 

 aometime* nearly globular, with a smooth, shining, 

 and vitreous surface, and, both in aspect and proper- 

 ties, approaching to olivine. " I cannot help observ- 

 ing," says the Count de Boumon, " that there appear* 

 to exist a very interesting analogy between thet-e trans- 

 parent nodule* and the globules I described as making 

 part of the itones said to have fallen on th earth. 



S 



