124 



METEORITE. 



Meteorite, flame which illuminated the horizon over a large track 

 ^^ "Y"* of country. The meteor is supposed to have been per- 

 pendicular to Juillac, since at Dax, situated to the south- 

 west of Messin, it was perceived in the north-east. It 

 was seen at Bayonne, Auch, Pau, Tarbes, and even at 

 Bourdeaux and Toulouse, though at the last mentioned 

 place it excited little attention, on account of its great 

 distance, and its appearing only a little brighter than a 

 shooting star. 



When all the circumstances of the case are duly con- 

 sidered, we need not be surprised that the publication 

 of them shuuld produce conviction on the minds of 

 many me;i of science, who had avowed their disbelief 

 in every thing of the kind. In fact, when we are pre- 

 sented with the joint testimony of the learned and un- 

 learned of the district in which the phenomenon is 

 stated to have occured, when we find the Professor of 

 Natural History in the central school of Agen retract- 

 ing his former scepticism, and the accurate and skilful 

 Vauquelin revealing the samechemical substances which 

 he had detected in other atmospheric stones, and near- 

 ly in the same proportions, it would be highly unrea- 

 sonable to withhold our assent, merely because we have 

 not in person witnessed the particulars. The few ap- 

 parent discrepancies which may be observed in the dif- 

 ferent accounts, are all capable of an easy solution, and 

 ought in no respect to invalidate the testimony in fa- 

 vour of the general fact ; yet, it is not a little singular 

 that different narratives, published at no great distance 

 of time subsequent to the event, assign to it erroneous 

 dates, some placing it in 1789, others in 1791, some in 

 August, and others in September. Specimens of the 

 Barbotan stones are not uncommon in the collections of 

 the curious. 



May 17, 1791. Stones fell at Castel Berardenga, in 

 Tuscany. Snldani. June 16, 1794, the late Earl of 

 Bristol's account of the Siena meteorite is thus related 

 by the late Sir William Hamilton, in the Philosophical 

 Transactions for 1795. 



" I must here mention a very extraordinary circum- 

 stance indeed, that happened near Siena, in the Tuscan 

 State, about 18 hours after the commencement of the 

 late eruption of Vesuvius, on the 15th of June, although 

 that phenomenon may have no relation to the eruption ; 

 and which was communicated to me, in the following 

 words, by the Earl of Bristol, Bisliop of Derry, in a 

 letter, dated from Siena, July 12, 1794. ' In the midst 

 of a most violent thunder-storm, about a dozen stones 

 of various weights and dimensions fell at the feet of 

 different people, men, women, and children ; the stones 

 are of a quality not found in any p:irt of the Sienese 

 territory ; they fell about 1 8 hours after the enormous 

 eruption of Vesuvius, which circumstance leaves a 

 choice of difficulties in the solution of this extraordina- 

 ry phenomenon ; either these stones have been generat- 

 ed in this igneous mass of clouds, which produced such 

 unusual thunder ; or, which is equally incredible, they 

 were thrown from Vesuvius, at a distance of at least 

 250 miles ; judge then of its parabola. The philoso- 

 phers here incline to the first ,-olution. I wish much, 

 Sir, to know your sentiments. My first objection was 

 to the fact itself; but of this there are ,so many eye- 

 witnesses, it seems impossible to withstand their evi- 

 dence, and now I am reduced to perfect scepticism.' 

 His Lordship was pleased to send me a piece of one of 

 the largest stones, which, when entire, weighed up- 

 wards of five pounds ; and I have seen another, which 

 has been sent to Naples entire, and weighs about one 



Castel-Be 

 rardenga. 



Siena. 



pound. The outside of every stone that has been as- Meteorite, 

 certained to have fallen from the cloud near Siena, is ""Y~~"' 

 evidently freshly vitrified, and is black, having every 

 sign of having passed through an extreme heat ; when 

 broken, the inside is of a li^ht grey colour, mixed with 

 black spots, and some shining particles, which the learn- 

 ed liere have decided to be pyrites ; and therefore it 

 cannot be a lava, or they would have been decom- 

 posed " 



The Abbate Snldani, Professor of Mathematics in 

 the University of Sien:i, has published a more detailed 

 account of the same phenomenon. He informs us, that 

 an alarming cloud was seen in Tuscany, ne.,r Siena and 

 Badacofani, proceeding from the north, about seven 

 o'clock in the evening, discharging sparks like roc-kets, 

 and throwing out smoke like a furnace, with explo-ions 

 more resembling the discharge of cannon and musketry 

 than thunder, and casting down ignited stones to the 

 ground, while the lightning wUich issued from it was 

 remarkably red, and less rapid than an ordinary flash. 

 To persons in different situations, the cloud appeared 

 to be of different shapes ; and, though it remained sus- 

 pended for a considerable time, its fire and smoke were 

 visible in every direction. Its altitude, from a combi- 

 nation of circumstances, was judged to be much above 

 the common region of the clouds. One of the stones, 

 which was of an irregular figure, weighed five pounds 

 and a half, was black on the outside, as if suffused with 

 smoke, and seems, internally, to be composed of matter 

 of the colour of ashes, and in which were perceived 

 small specks of metal, as of gold and silver Besides 

 this, about nineteen others were shewn to Soldani and 

 all of them characterized by a black and glazed outer 

 surface, by their resistance to acids, and by a degree of 

 hardness which permitted them not to be scratched 

 with the point of a penknife. 



Signor Montauli, who observed the cloud as he hap- 

 pened to be travelling, described it as appearing much 

 above the elevation of ordinary clouds, as wrapt in. 

 smoke and flame, and as gradually becoming white, 

 without being visibly affected by the sun's rays, which 

 beamed full on its lower portions. In the heart of it 

 he could discern, as it were, the basin of a fiery furnace, 

 with a rotatory motion. This curious observer like- 

 wise gives an account of a stone, which, he was assur- 

 ed, dropped from the cloud, at a farmer's feet, and was 

 dug out of the ground into which it had penetrated. 

 It was about five inches long, and four broad, nearly 

 square, and smooth, black on the surface, as if singed, 

 but, within, like a sand-stone, with various small par. 

 tides of iron, and bright metallic stars. Most of the 

 others which he examined were of a rudely triangular 

 slinpe, and some so small as not to weigh more than an 

 ounce. 



The ladies at Cozene, about twenty miles from Siena, 

 saw a number of them come down, with a great noise, 

 in a neighbouring meadow ; and one of them, which 

 was soon after taken up by ayoung woman, burned her 

 hand ; another burned a peasant's hat ; a th rd struck 

 off a branch from a mulberry-tree ; and a fourth very 

 nearly hit a girl who was tending a flock of sheep. At 

 Cozone, however, the stones were of a sm.-.ll size, and ac- 

 companied with the fall of sand ; thus intimating a close 

 connection between meteorites and showers of sand. 



The specific gravity of the Siena stones was found to 

 be about 3.3, or 3.4; and one of them, treated by Mr. 

 Howard, as particularly detailed in the 92d vol. of the 

 Philosophical Transactions, yielded, 







