120 



METEORITE. 



Meteorite, of fire, accompanied with smoke, rushing down with a 



" "^~*" ' dreadful explosion, and with such force as to shake the 

 earth. The larger fragment, which weighed 71 lb. 

 sunk to the depth of three fathoms, and made a breach 

 of two feet, round which the soil was greenish, and 

 seemed to be scorched with fire. The other, of only 

 16 lb. weight, fell in a meadow at 2000 paces from the 

 first, and made an opening of four feet wide. The 

 largest, which consists of native iron, and presents on 

 its surface the most evident marks of fire, is preserved 

 in the Imperial Cabinet of Natural Curiosities at Vien- 

 na, with an official attestation from the consistory of the 

 bishopric of Agram, who interrogated several eye-wit- 

 nesses. A great many people in that part of the coun- 

 try heard the explosion, and likewise saw some fiery 

 body fall from the sky, though, on account of the dis- 

 tance, they could not determine the precise spot. Dr. 

 Chladni and Dr. Noehden mention, that they saw the 

 larger mass in the Vienna museum ; and the latter re- 

 marks, that it is not smooth and even on the outside, 

 but rough, with depressions and protuberances, and des- 

 titute of the vitreous particles observable in the cavi- 

 ties of the Siberian iron. Klaproth's analysis gave of 

 native iron 96.5, and of nickel 3.5, a composition 

 nearly identical with the specimen of native iron 

 brought by Humboldt from the province of Durango, 

 in Mexico. 



Eichstadt. January 1753. A stone fell at Eichstadt, in Germany. 

 Cavallo. July 3, 1753. Four stones, one of which 



Strkw. weighed 13lb. fell at Strkow, near Tabor, at eight 

 o'clock in the evening, when the air was tranquil, and 

 the sky little shaded with clouds. Their fall was pre- 

 ceded by three loud and prolonged peals, like the dis- 

 charge of artillery. The people in the fields fled for 

 terror to their houses, or climbed up into the trees ; 

 and a shepherd, who applied his hand to one of the 

 stones after it had fallen, felt it very sensibly heated. 

 A fragment of one of them was distinctly labelled in 

 the Bornian collection, with the additional annotation, 

 Qua; j ragmen/a, Stio Julii, 1753, inter tonitrua, e ccelo 

 plnisse creduliores qiddam asserunt. The expression of 

 'Creduliores quidam, may be alleged to invalidate the 

 purport of the label, yet it deserves to be remarked, 

 that, in regard to the present subject of our inquiry, 

 what was formerly accounted the credulity of the vul- 

 gar, may now, on several occasions at least, be constru- 

 ed into probability, if not into matter of fact, that Step- 

 ling reported the phenomenon only the year after it is 

 stated to have taken place; and that the late Hon. 

 Charles Greville, who procured the identical specimen 

 from the Bornian collection, and Mr. Howard, found it 

 to coincide in composition with other atmospheric 

 stones; for its analysis gave, 



Silica 45 



Magnesia 17.27 



Iron 43.72 



Nickel 2.72 



107.7 



Its specific gravity is 4.28. Another specimen is de. 

 posited in the Imperial Cabinet of Vienna. 



September, 1753. We have next to direct our at- 

 tention to another report of M. de Lalande, inserted in 

 the Historical Almanack of Bresse, for 1756. About 

 one o'clock, P. M. when the weather was very hot, and 

 very serene, without any visible trace of a cloud, a very 

 loud noise, like the discharge of two or three cannons, 

 was heard within the circumference of six leagues, but 



' 



for a very short duration. This noise was loudest in Meteorite. 



the neighbourhood of Pont-de-Vesle ; and, at Liponas, 



a village three leagues from the last mentioned place, 



it was even accompanied by a hissing like that of a 



cracker. On the same evening there were found two 



blackish masses, of a form nearly circular, but very un- 



even, which had fallen, the one at Liponas and the 



other at Pin, into ploughed ground, and sunk, by their 



own weight, to half a foot beneath the surface. One 



of them weighed about 20 lb. and a fragment of the 



other weighing 1 1 lb. was preserved in the cabinet of 



M. Varenne de Beost, at Dijon. The basis of these 



masses resembled a greyish trap, and was very refrac- 



tory ; and through the substance of the stone, and es- 



pecially in its fissures, were disseminated some ferrugi- 



nous particles in grains, filaments, or minute nodules. 



This iron, when subjected to a red heat, became obe- 



dient to the magnet. The black coating on the sur- 



face M. de Lalande ascribed to fusion, induced by vio- 



lent heat. These circumstances, though slightly no- 



ticed, are strictly conformable to the history of more re- 



cent cases, which remain to be detailed. 



July, 1755. A stone fell at Terra-nuova, in Calabria, Terra-nu- 

 which weighed 7oz. Domin. Tata. October 20, 1755. ova. 

 A black dust, like lamp-black, fell in Shetland between Shetland. 

 three and four o'clock in the afternoon, when the sky 

 was very hazy. This dust smelled strongly of sulphur, 

 and covered the faces and hands, and blackened the 

 linen of the people in the fields. As the wind blew 

 from the south-west, it is not probable that it was eject- 

 ed from Hecla, which is situated between 500 and 600 

 miles farther north. Phil. Trans, vol. 1. Nov. 15, 

 1 755. A red sky, and the fall of red rain, in several R e< j ra j n . 

 countries. Nov. Art. Nat. Cur. t. ii. Oct. 9, 1763. Red 

 rain at Cleves, Utrecht, &c. Mercurio Histor. Polil. Cleves, &c. 

 Nov. 14, 1765. Red iron in Picardy. Richard. End of pj card _ 

 July, 1 766. When the sky was clear at Albereto, in Alberete. 

 the neighbourhood of Milan, it was dark and cloudy in 

 the direction of the western hills, and in the valley to 

 the north, with frequent thunder and lightning. About 

 five o'clock in the evening, when the peasants were dis- 

 persed over the fields, engaged in their rural labours, 

 there was suddenly heard, not only in Albereto, but in 

 other places at a considerable distance to the west, and 

 even at Modena, an unusual noise, like the discharge of 

 artillery, succeeded by a whizzing in the air, like that 

 produced by a cannon bullet when powerfully propel- 

 led. The Duke of Modena's gardener even believed 

 that a cannon ball was descending into the garden. 

 Others either did not hear the whizzing noise, or had 

 not paid attention to it. In Albereto, however, it was 

 not only heard, but a body was moreover seen travers- 

 ing the air with great velocity, and falling abruptly to 

 the earth. To some of the distant bystanders it appear- 

 ed in a state of ignition ; but to two ladies, who were 

 within a mile of the spot, it seemed opaque and smoking. 

 They instinctively clung to a branch of a tree, but an 

 ox, which was near them, fell to the ground from ter- 

 ror. The stone, which diffused an odour of sulphur, 

 had penetrated the soil to nearly the depth of a fathom, 

 was still hot when taken up, and had the appearance of 

 a sandstone of great weight, of an irregular triangular fi- 

 gure, with its external surface uniformly burnished over 

 with black, as if from the effect of fire. The person who 

 took it up broke it into pieces, and the fragments were 

 distributed among different people in the town. Father 

 Troili, who relates these circumstances, as they were 

 communicated to him by eye-witnesses, and particular- 

 ly by the individual, who, with the assistance of a young 



