METEORITE. 



121 



Meteorite, peasant, extracted the stone from the earth, published 

 " T" ' in the course of the same year a curious treatise, entit- 

 led, Drlla Caduta di urn Satto dalfAria Ragiimamtnto, 

 Sec. in which he adduce* many excellent arguments to 

 prove not only hit own assertion*, but the truth of the 

 general doctrine of the descent of meteorites on various 

 occasions. But we cannot leam that the reasoning of 

 the Jesuit produced much impression on the public 

 mind ; and certainly it had no weight with men of 

 science. At the distance of half a century, however, the 

 book has been eagerly coveted by the learned ; and a 

 copy, with the perusal of which we hare been politely fa- 

 Toured by Thomas Allan, Esq. of thU city, belong* to 

 that gentleman's valuable repository. Va.al li, in his 

 Pkynct Meteorological Letter,, allude* to the fall of the 

 Albereto stone ; and Beccaria likewise adverts to it in 

 the postscript of his letter to Dr. Franklin, entitled, De 

 Elrctricitatt I'imJice. having apparently procured his 

 information of the fact from Fogtiani, bishop of Mod* 

 na, a highly respectable character, and a aesJous natu- 

 rmlit August 15, 1 766. Between six and aeren o'clock 

 Kc,,:: lr . p. M. , ,,/,! .tone fril m-ir \^rlbn, at a Mf:,- die- 

 from a poplar that w struck at the 



by lightning. But if Troili, who mention* the (act, be 

 correct in his conjecture, it was piece of the bark of 



the poplar vitrified by lightning, 



pp 



sition which 



Sept. IS. 1768. The Abbe Harkrlay acquaints us, 

 that, about half past four o'clock in the afternoon, 

 there appeared near the castle of Chevalerie, in the 

 neighbourhood of Luce. email town in the province 

 of Maine, a stormy cloud, from which proceeded a 

 peal of thunder, like the discharge of cannon, which 

 wat ocotcoeu by a aoopp aa Muwr to tne lowing of 

 cattle, a* to hnp-Me on several people who beard H. in 

 a circuit of two leajroea and a half, but anigriaauaiiitJ 



b of PerictawV, about three league* iron *Loce, on 



body, which described a curve. 'and feU^Tsoft t^rfon* 

 ad. near which they were at work. They 

 all quickly ran up to it, and found sort of stone, 

 nearly half of which was buried in the earth, and the 

 whole so hot that it could not be touched. At fin* 

 they (led in a panic; but on returning to the spot 

 sometime after, they round the mas* precisely in the 

 i situation, end somcienUy cooled to admit of being 

 J and narrowly examined. It weighed seven 

 i and a half, ana we* of triangular form, pre- 

 as it were three rounded horn*, one of which, 

 at the^moment of Ute fall, had entered into the ground, 

 and was of a grey or aab-colour, while the net which 

 was exposed to the air WM very black. When the 

 Abbe presented this stone to the Academy 



nd Cadet, a committee, to exai 



task which they performed with more can 



racy than M. de Lalande bed dene on a pr 



caewn ; but their trial was limited to an integral ptrt 



of the whole, considered M hmiiugi IIKIU* substance, 



in place of being applied to each of the nonsfjMsjil 



parts. The result was 



Silica 55.5 

 Iron 36 

 Sulphur 8 



995 



The swbeUnta of the tune was of a pale ash-grey, 

 VOL. XJT. TABT i. 



and anal.* 



rpeckled with an infinite number of minute and shin- Meteorite, 

 ing metallic points, visible through a magnifying glass. ^^~r"~ * 

 The thin black outer coating, which seemed to have 

 been ftied, alone gave a few sparks when struck with 

 steel. Its specific gravity was 3.58. From the few 

 small fragment* of this meteorite which have been 

 pea* i nil, it seems to be nearly allied to those from 

 Benares. The committee, very unwilling to allow that 

 it could have descended from the air, conjectured that 

 it hid previously existed in the ground, and had 

 merely been struck by the electric flash. The singu- 

 lar position in which it was found, however, with one 

 of its angles inserted in the turf, w mo-t likely not a 

 permanent one: and it-ally withj respect to a matter of 

 fact, subject to the cognixance of the senses, we may 

 believe a ni?tic opectator, in preference to a philoso- 

 pher who speculates in his cl 



Another "tone, of nearly the same composition, ac- Aire. 

 companied, by the history of its fall at Aire, in Artois, 

 was presented to the academy in the course of the 

 same year, by M. Gusson de Boynval, honorary lieu- 

 tenant-general of the bailliage of Aire, to which was 

 added, by the younger Morand, the pecinu-n 1'r. in 

 Coutance*. According to the academical report, these 

 three stonts, when compered, presented no difference 

 to the eye, being of the same colour, and nearly of the 

 same erain, interspersed with metallic and pyritous 

 particles, and covered with a black and ferruginous 

 incruitation. Their common aspect did not convince 

 the academy that they had been conveyed to the earth, 

 yet the coincidence of the attested circumstances in 

 three places, distinctly separated from one another, 

 and the cWructfri which discriminated them from 

 other stones, induced the learned body to announce 

 theft 1 btatory, and to invite its discussion. 



November SO. 1768. A stone fell at Mauerkirchen, Manerkir- 

 near the Inn, in Bavaria, at four o'clock, P.M. which cben. 

 weighed thirty-eight pound*. It was of a triangular 

 form, and eight inches in thickness. Its fall was pro* 

 claimed by a hissing noise, and great darkness in the 

 air. and it penetrated two feet and a half into the soil. 

 Imhof, in (nth. An. A detached fragment is preserved 

 in the Imperial Cabinet of Vienna, another in the fire* 

 vflKan Collection, and another in that of Robert Fer- 

 guson of Kaith. Esq. 



mber 17, 1773, the Captain- general of Sara- Seaa. 

 gos*a dispatched the following letter, accompanied 

 with the stone to which it refer*, to Don Manuel de 

 Uda. MmaMer of State. 



" In November last, an extraordinary occurrence, 

 amid to have happened on the 1 7th of that month, hi a 

 ploughed field at Sena, a village in the district 

 i, was the topic of conversation in this city. 

 The sky being perfectly serene, three reports re- 

 ibling those of cannon, were heard, anil followed by 

 the fall of a stone, weighing nine pounds and one 

 ounce, at a little distance from two labouring men. 

 One of them went up to it ; but the strong iniell 

 which it emitted stopt him for a moment. 



" Recovering from his surprise, he went nearer, 

 heaved it up with his spade, and waited till it was suf- 

 ficiently cold for him to carry it to the village, where 

 he delivered it to the priest. 



I mm inquiries made immediately afterwards on 

 the spot, and among the people in the neighbourhood, 

 it appear* that the noise in the air and fall of the stone 

 were not accompanied with any storm or with light- 

 ning." 



Thii stone is still preserved in the Royal Collection 

 I 



