METEORITE. 



123 



MstssriN. A ipecimen may be seen in the Imperial Cabinet of 

 Vienna. See also Picktl and Siulz. October 1 , 1787. 

 Stones fell in the province of Charkow, in Russia. 

 Ci/4. Ann. 



July 84, 1790. The shower of stone* which fell near 

 Barhotan and other places in the land($ of Bourdeaux, is 

 worthy of particular commemoration. The fiery me- 

 teor from which it proceeded, and which wa* *een at 

 A gen, and in the neighbouring departments, about nine 

 o'clock in the evening, alter traversing a certain por- 

 tion of the atmosphere, and dragging a luminous train, 

 which wa* visible for at least 50 eeconds, exploded 

 with an extraordinary noise and scintillation. Of the 

 numerous accounts of this phenomenon, some of the 

 mart interesting are addressed to M. Darcet, the che- 

 HMt An inhabitant of St. Severe, for example, im- 

 part* the ensuing circumstances. 



Yesterday our town'* people were agitated by a 

 very unusual alarm. About a quarter past nine 

 o'clock, there suddenly appeared in the air a fire-lull, 

 f a long train, which spread a very vivid light 

 horhton. This fire-ball soon disappeared. 

 to fall at one hundred pace* from n*. 

 8oon after we beard an explosion, much louder than 

 that of cannon or of thunder. Every body dreaded 

 being buried under the house*, which threatened to 

 give way from the violence of the concussion. The 

 ame phenomenon WM teen, and the report heard in 

 the neighbouring towns, *uch as Mont du Marsan, 

 Tarta*, and Dax. fn other respects the weather wa* 

 very calm, without a breath of wind or a cloud, and 

 the maon shone in all her brightnc**." 



M. Darcet 's brother, a clergyman in that part of the 

 courtly, sent him a m . which wa* picked up 



on the morning after the explosion, and thi 

 which he wa* scrupulously anxious to investigate. 

 Being satisfied with reipect to all the particulars, he 

 despatched it to Pan*, accompanied with some cunou* 

 remarks. When the stonrs fell,- he observes, " they 

 bad not their preaent degree of hardness. Some of 

 them tell on straw, bit* ot which stuek to the (tones, 



1 incorporated with them. I have teen one in this 

 It U at present at la Bastide, but I can- 

 thc owner to part with it. ... Those 

 fell on the houses, produced a noise not like 

 that of (tone*, bat rather like that of a substance which 

 bad not yet acquired compactness." 



We shall also cite the procei ver&o/, a limple but au- 

 thentic document. 



m the year one thousand *even hundred and 

 inety, and the 90th day of the month of August, we 

 the Sieur Jean Daby, Mayor, and Louis MaulLn, Pro- 

 curator of the Commune of the Municipality of La 

 Grange de Juillac, and Jean Darroilte, resident in the 

 parish of ! (>r*ngede Juillac, certify in truth and ve- 

 rity, that an Saturday the 24th of July latt, between 

 MM and ten o'clock, there passed a great fire, and after 

 it we beard in the air a very loud ami eitraordmarv 

 noise ; and eboet two minute* after there fell stone* 

 from heaven ; but fortunately there fell only a very 

 few ; and they fell about ten paces from one another in 

 ante piece*, and in other* nearer, and finally in some 

 other place* farther, and falling, most of them of the 

 weight of about half of a quarter of a pound each ; tome 

 others) of about half a |>niiud, like that found in our 

 pariah of U Grange -, and on the border* of the ; 

 of Crecn, they were found of a pound weight, a: 

 falling they seemed not to be inflamed, but very hard 

 aad black, without and within, of the colour of steel ; 



and, thank God, they occasioned no harm to the peo- 

 pie nor to the trees, but only to some trees which were 

 broken on the houses ; and most of them fell gently, 

 and others quickly, with a hissing noise ; and some 

 were found which had entered into the earth, but very 

 few. In witness whereof we have written and signed 

 these presents. 



" DI-BV, Mayor; DARMITTE." 



M. Baudi* states, that as Mr. '('arris and he were 

 walking in the court-yard of the castle of Mormes, 

 about half-past nine o'clock in the evening, when the 

 air was quite calm, and the sky cloudless, they found 

 themselves suddenly surrounded by a pale clear light, 

 which diminished that of the nearly full moon. On 

 looking up, they observed, almost in their zenith, a fire- 

 ball of a larger apparent diameter than that of the 

 moon, dragging a tail five or six times longer than it* 

 body, and which gradually tapered to a blood red point, 

 while the rest of the meteor was of a pale white. The 

 direction of this luminous body, which proceeded with 

 great velocity, was from south to north. In about 

 two seconds, it split into portions of considerable size, 

 which fell in different directions, like the fragments of 

 a bomt) that bunts in the air. These fragments be- 

 came extinguished before they reached the ground, and 

 some of them, in falling, assumed that blood red colour 

 which had been observed at the point of the tail. Two 

 or three minutes after, they heard a dreadful explosion, 

 like the simultaneous firing of several pieces of ord- 

 nance ncutsion of the atmosphere produced 

 effect* similar to those of an earthquake ; for win- 

 dows shook in their frames, and kite In n utmiN were 

 thrown down from their shelves ; but M. Baudin and 

 not sensible of any motion under their 

 feet. From the court of the castle these gentlemen 

 went into the garden, when the noise still conti- 

 nued, and seemed to be directed over tht-ir heads. 

 Sometime after it had ceased, they heard a hollow sound 

 rolling in echoes, for fifty miles, along the chain of the 

 Pyrenees, continuing for four minutes, and gradually 

 away in distance, the atmosphere all the time 

 Rasing a sulphurrouc odour. 



The interval which occurred between the bursting 

 of the meteor and the loud report, induced M. Baudin 

 to conjecture, that the fire-ball must have been at least 

 eight milf-t from the earth'* surface, and that it fell 

 about four miles from Mormr'-s ; and the latter part of 

 hi* conjecture was confirmed by the fact. It appear*, 

 indeed, from the concurring relations of intelligent per- 

 sons worthy of credit, that the meteor really exploded 

 at a little distance from Juillac, and that the fallen stone*, 

 of different sizes, were found lying in an almost circular 

 space of nearly two mile* in diameter. Though tome 

 of them fell in courts and garden*, no house* were ma- 

 terially injured ; but, in the neighbouring woods, 

 some branches were broken and torn off. According 

 to some of the accounts, one of the stones, fifteen inch- 

 es in diameter, broke through the roof of a cottage, and 

 killed a herdsman and a bullock . People deserving of 

 credit, mentioned that one of four pounds had fallen 

 near a farmer'* door ; and another, which weighed be- 

 tween twenty and twenty-five pounds, was carried a* a 

 curiosity to the town of Mont-du-Marsan. Though ge- 

 nerally smooth on the outside, thpy presented some 

 longitudinal crack* or fissure*, while their internal sub- 

 stance, transversely striated, exhibited indications of 

 metallic veins, especially of a ferruginous complexion. 

 When yet red hot, and scattered in various directions, 

 they formed that magnificent fire-work, that shower of 



