126 



METEORITE. 



Krorah 

 Monte. 



Lusatia. 



Meteorite. " Elias Antonio, ordinary judge of the term of Evorah 

 * Monte, and inhabitant of the parish of Friexo, in the 

 Herdade of Gayes, says, that, on the l<)th clay of Fe- 

 bruary, (179(>, ) between one and two o'clock in the 

 afternoon, he heard two reports, similar to those of the 

 explosion of mines ; after which he perceived a great 

 rumbling noise, which lasted about two minutes. Look- 

 ing up to the horizon, it was not obscured, neither was 

 there any cloud or appearance from which he could 

 conjecture the sound to have proceeded. He recollects 

 likewise that the rumbling ran from north to east, the 

 day being clear and serene. 



" Gregorio Calado, labourer in the Herdade of Pazo, 

 and term of Redondo, says, that he heard the above- 

 mentioned sound, and that a little while after, one of 

 his servants, called Jose Fialho, brought him a stone of 

 the colour of lead, weighing ten pounds, and irregu- 

 lar in its figure, which stone the said Jose Fialho had 

 found in a meer of the Herdade called Pasquinha, in 

 the term of Evorah Monte ; for after the two reports 

 and the rumbling sound, he heard some heavy body fall 

 near him, and found this stone sunk in the ground, 

 still warm, and the ground freshly moved. Four boys 

 who were in the same part affirmed the same." 



The evidence here adduced is not very circumstan- 

 tial ; yet, when taken in connection with similar cases, 

 it tends to corroborate the general fact. 



March 8, 1796. After the fall of a fire-ball in Lu- 

 satia, there was found a viscid substance, having the 

 consistency, colour, and odour of a brown varnish. 

 Chladni, who procured a small portion of it, in a very 

 dried state, conceived that it was principally composed 

 of sulphur and carbon. 



March 12, 1798. Concerning the stone which is re- 

 ported to have fallen near Villefranche, in the depart- 

 ment of the Rhone, we are presented with a great va- 

 riety of details ; but we shall notice only a few of the 

 most important. When it was transmitted to M. Sage, 

 Member of the National Institute, and Professor of the 

 First School of Mines, he hastily considered it as only 

 a pyritous and magnetical ore of iron, although it bore 

 no resemblance to any known species of ore of that me- 

 tal, since it contained nickel, silica, magnesia, and na- 

 tive iron, which, when the stone was polished, shone 

 like steel. It was of an ash-grey colour, granulated 

 and speckled with grey shining metallic points. Its 

 surface was covered on one side, with a dingy black 

 enamel, about a third of a line in thickness; and it 

 acted very powerfully on the magnetic needle. When 

 the Senator Chassct sent it to M. Sage, it was accom- 

 panied with a historical notice of similar import with 

 that which M. Lelicvre of Villefranche, who saw and 

 described the phenomenon on the spot, had already 

 communicated. 



At six o'clock in the evening, a round body, which 

 diffused the most vivid light, was observed in the vi- 

 cinity of Villefranche, moving westward, and producing 

 a hissing noise, like that of a bomb which traverses the 

 air. This luminous body which was seen at the same 



ViHe- 

 Tranche. 



time at Lyons, and on Mont Cenis, marked its passage 

 by a red track of fire, and exploded when about 200 

 toises from the earth, producing a loud report, and a 

 commotion in the neighbourhood. One of the flaming 

 fragments fell on the vineyard of Pierre Crepier, an in- 

 habitant of Sales, making in the earth an opening of an olive hue. On account of its heterogeneous com- 

 about twenty inches in depth, and eighteen in width, position, its specific gravity could not be easily ascer- 

 The analysis of Messrs. Vauquelin and Howard first tained. One hundred parts of the mass gave, accord- 

 prompted M. Sage to examine this fragment and its ing to Vauquelin, 



history with more critical accuracy, and, finally, to re- Meteor 

 nounce his scepticism with regard to the existence of ""Y" 

 meteoric concretions. 



An account of the,same meteor was published in the 

 Journal tie Physique, for Floreal, year 11, by M. de 

 Drte, who visited the spot in 1802. From his mi- 

 nute and deliberate investigation, it appears, that, at 

 the time above specified, a luminous and extraordinary 

 globe, in the eastern quarter of the heavens, had scarce- 

 ly arrested the attention of the inhabitants of Sales, 

 and the adjacent villages, when its rapid approach, ac- 

 companied by a terrible whizzing noise, like that of 

 an irregular hollow body, traversing the atmosphere 

 with unusual velocity, inspired the whole commune 

 with alarm, especially when they observed it passing 

 over their heads, at an inconsiderable elevation, leav- 

 ing behind it a long train of light, and emitting, with 

 an almost unceasing crackling, small bright flames, 

 like little stars. Its fall was remarked by three labour- 

 ers, at the distance of only fifty paces. Montillard, 

 one of the three, a young man, who happened to be 

 next the falling body, was struck with terror, and threw 

 down his coat and bundle of sticks, that he might run 

 the faster. The other two, Chardon and Lapoces, fled, 

 with equal precipitation, to Sales, where the alarm had 

 become general. These three witnesses attest the asto- 

 nishing rapidity of the meteor's motion, and the hiss- 

 ing which proceeded from the spot where it fell. Cre- 

 pier, who happened to be at home, was so much terri- 

 fied with the noise of its fall, within twenty yards of 

 his house, that he locked himself up with his family, 

 first in his cellar, and then in his private apartment, 

 whence he ventured not to stir till next morning, when 

 he was called to join Chardon, Lapoces, M. Blandel, 

 and many others, who had repaired to the precise spot 

 where they had seen the fire-ball enter into the earth ; 

 and there, at the bottom of a wide aperture, eighteen 

 inches deep, including the whole thickness of the 

 mould, they found a large black mass, of an irregular- 

 ly ovoid form, having some resemblance to a calf's head, 

 completely incrusted with a black varnish, cracked in 

 several places, and smelling of gun-powder. It was 

 first of all brought to Crepier's house, and very close- 

 ly examined : on breaking it, however, and observ- 

 ing nothing but stone, indifference succeeded to the 

 curiosity of the observers ; and they coolly attribut- 

 ed its appearance to causes more or less superna- 

 tural. 



The simplicity of most of the accounts, their perfect 

 agreement in every important point, and the number 

 and integrity of the witnesses, removed all doubt and 

 suspicion from the mind of M. de Dr6e. 



The weight of the Villefranche stone, before it was 

 broken, was about twenty pounds. Its black, vitrifi- 

 ed, and opaque surface, gave fire with steel. Within, 

 it was hard, earthy, of the colour of ashes, of a granu- 

 lated texture, presenting different substances scattered 

 through it, viz. iron, in grains, from the smallest visi- 

 ble size to a line, or even more, in diameter, somewhat 

 malleable, but harder and whiter than forged iron, 

 white pyrites, both lamellar and granular, and ap- 

 proaching, in colour, to nickel, some grey globules, 

 which seemed to pm-jnt the characters of trap, and a 

 very few and minute particles of steatite, inclining to 



