114 



METEORITE. 



.Meteorite. 



Mother of 

 the gods. 



A neon a. 



Near 



Koine. 



China. 



Fiery 



stones. 



China. 



Lake of 



Mars. 



Stones like 



hricks. 



Yong. 



.Lucania. 



Acilla. 

 Chins. 



wind, as might tear the stone frorrr its native bed, and 

 dash it on the plain." 



Damachus, it is true, may, on this occasion, have 

 given way to his love of the marvellous ; and we can 

 readily believe, that the seventy-five continuous days 

 are either an error of the copyist, or an original exag- 

 geration. When we reflect, however, that he is not 

 the sole reporter of the occurrence, and that some of 

 the circumstances which he specifies are very analo- 

 gous to those which remain to be stated on less ques- 

 tionable authority, we can hardly refuse to acquiesce 

 in the presumption, that a meteorite really fell at the 

 period, and on the spot which are here so particularly 

 specified. 



465. The stone denominated the mother of the gods, 

 alluded to by so many ancient writers, and the source 

 of so many learned, and so many foolish conjectures, 

 is stated by Appian, Hcrodian, and Marcellimts, to have 

 fallen from heaven. Aristodemns, quoted by the Greek 

 scholiast on Pindar, asserts, that it fell, encircled by 

 jire, on a hill, and at the feet of the Theban bard. It 

 is said to have been of moderate dimensions, of a black 

 hue, of an irregular angular shape, and of a metallic 

 aspect. An oracle had predicted, that the Romans 

 would continue to increase in prosperity, if they were 

 put in possession of this precious deposit : and Publius 

 Scipio Nasica was, accordingly, deputed to Attalus, king 

 of I'ergamus, to obtain and" receive ths sacred idol, 

 whose worship was instituted at Rome, 204 years be- 

 fore the Christian era. According to Valerius Maxi- 

 mits, a stone fell in the March of Ancona : Livy even 

 says, lapidibvs pluit, which would intimate a shower of 

 them. 343. A shower of stones near Rome. Jul. Obseq. 

 2 1 1 . De Guignes relates, that a star fell to the ground in 

 China, and was converted into a stone an event which 

 created an extraordinary sensation. The inhabitants 

 of the district, willing to convey a moral lesson to their 

 unpopular emperor, caused these words to be engraved 

 on the stone: Chi-Hoang-Ty draws near to death, and 

 his empire will be divided. In the plenitude of his in- 

 dignation, the emperor ordered all the inhabitants of 

 the district to be put to death, and the stone to be 

 broken in pieces ; but he died in the course of the fol- 

 lowing year ; and, three years after, in the reign of his 

 successor Eul- Chi-Hoang-Ty, in consequence of a ge- 

 neral revolt, the empire was partitioned into many 

 kingdoms, and the dynasty of the Tsins was extin- 

 guished. 205, or 206'. A shower of fiery stones. Pint. 

 192. A stone fell in China. De Guignes. 176'. A stone 

 is reported by Livy, to have fallen into the Lake of 

 Mars, in the Crustumenian territory. 00, or 89- A 

 shower of stones like bricks. Plin. 89- Two large 

 stones fell at Yong, in China ; and the noise of the ex- 

 plosion was heard over forty leagues. De Guignes. 

 56', or 52. Spongy iron in Lucania. Plin. A shower 

 of stones at Acilla, a town in Africa, mentioned in 

 C(Esar's Commentaries. 38. Six stones fell in the pro- 

 vince of Leang in China, De Guignes. 29. Four at 

 Po, and two in the territory of Tching-ting-fou. Id. 

 22. Eight in China. Id 19. Three in China. Id. 

 1 2. One at Ton-Korean. Id. 9. Two in China. Id. 

 (j. Sixteen in Ning-Tcheou, and two at You. Id. We 

 may believe, on the authority of De Guignes, that such 

 notices are inserted in the records of China ; but we 

 are too little conversant in the literature of that singu- 

 lar country, to determine the precise quantity of cre- 

 dence that ought to attach to the notices themselves ; 

 yet, had no such events ever occurred in that part of 



5 



the world, it is not very probable that they would have Meteorite, 

 been so repeatedly and distinctly registered. S -~~Y~*' 



P. C. A stone in the territory of the Vocontii, Vocontii. 

 deposited a little before Pliny saw it. Mondognetius, territory. 

 in his Life of Marcus Aurelius, relates, that, in the 

 reign of the Emperor Valentinian, such a copious 

 shower of stones fell at Constantinople, that it killed Constanti- 

 most of the cattle in the fields, and even some people. ""P 1 * 

 *52. Marcellinus, an officer of the empire, and Count 

 of Illyria, who lived in the reign of Justinian, and con- 

 tinned the chronicle of Jerome, from A. D. 379, to 

 534, makes mention of three large stones which fell 

 from the heavens in Thrace ; but he is silent as to par- Thrace. 

 ticulars. Nov. 5, or 6, 472. A great fall of black 

 dust, probably at Constantinople, during which the Constants 

 heavens seemed to burn. Procop. Marcell. Thcoph. nople. 

 ixc. Sixth century. Stones fell on Mount Lebanon, Mount 1*. 

 and near Emessa in Syria. Damascius, in an extract "anon, t^o. 

 of his Life of Isodorus, preserved by Photius, relates, 

 that the former issued from a globe of fire. About 

 570, a shower of stones, near Bender, in Arabia. Alco- Bender. 

 ran. 648. A fiery stone at Constantinople, according Constant!. 

 to several chronicles. 652. A shower of red dust at nople. 

 the same place. Thcoph. Cedren. Math. Erelz. 811. 

 In the third moon, on the day Wou-siu, between the China, 

 third and fifth hour after mid-day, the sky being 

 cloudy, and the weather cold, there appeared a globe 

 of fire as large as a hou, (a measure of about ten bush- 

 els,) which fell between Yan and Ytin. A noise, re- 

 sembling thunder, was heard at the distance of many 

 leagues, and the people fled with a violent outcry. 

 Above the place where the globe fell, a reddish vapour 

 remained, arranged like a serpent, and a tcliang 

 (nearly 12^ feet) in length; it remained till the even- 

 ing and then disappeared. Ma-touan-lin. 817. In the 

 twelfth year, in the ninth moon, on the day Ki-kat, 

 about the third or fourth hour after midnight, there 

 appeared a running star towards the middle of the 

 heavens ; its head was like a bucket, and its tail like 

 a bark of 200 hou burthen ; it was more than ten 

 tchang in length, and made a noise like a number of 

 birds flying ; it produced a light similar to that of the 

 torches used in illuminations. It passed beneath the 

 moon, moving towards the west ; on a sudden, a great 

 noise was heard, and at the moment the globe fell to 

 the earth, a crash took place thrice as great as that of 

 a falling house. Id. 823. A shower of pebbles in Saxony. 

 Saxony. Mezeray, and Bonavenlure de St. Amable. 

 839. It is recorded in the history of Japan, that, in Japan, 

 the sixth year of Nin-mio-teno, the 29th day of the 

 eighth moon, there occurred at a place to the west of 

 the town of Thean-tchhenan, where no fragment of 

 stone previously existed, thunder and rain for ten 

 days. The weather having become clear, stones simi- 

 lar to the points of arrows and to hatchets, were found 

 on the earth, some being white and others red. July, 

 or August, 852. A stone fell in Tabaristan. De Sacy, Tabaristan. 

 and Qttatremere. Middle of the ninth century. Red Red 

 dust, and matter like coagulated blood, fell from the 

 heavens. Kastvini, Elmazen. December, 856. Five 

 stones fell in Egypt. De Sacy, Quatremere. 885, 886, Egypt, 

 and 887. Thunderstones fell in Japan. Ma-touan-lin. Japan. 

 892 or 897- A stone fell at Ahmedabad. Q.ttatre?nere. Ahmed 

 905. Stones fell at Hoanglie, in Coree, which caused a bad. 

 noise like thunder. The officers of the place having Core'e. 

 sent these stones to the court, the president of the ce- 

 remonies assured the king that the phenomenon of fall- 

 en stars had occurred so frequently that it was no long-. 



