METEORITE. 



127 



Silica, 



Oxyd of iron, 

 Magnesia, 



.el, 



Lime, 



43 

 58 



1J 



a 



'2 



103 



The excess of this result was ascribed to the ab- 

 sorption of oxygen, by the native iron, during the 

 process. 



December 1<), 1798. About eight o'clock in the 

 evening, a very luminous meteor, in the form of a 

 large globe of fire, and accompanied by a loud thun- 

 dering noise, was observed in the heavens by the inha- 

 bitants of Benares, and the parts adjacent. It was 

 said to have (!i-. harmed a number of stones near Krak- 

 hut, a village on the north side of the river Goomty, 

 about fourteen miles from Benares. This meteor ap- 

 peared in the western quarter of the hemisphere, and 

 was visible only for a short time, to several Europeans, 

 as well as natives, in different parts of the country. 

 In the neighbourhood of Juanpoor, about twelve miles 

 from the spot where the stone* fell, it was distinctly 

 perceived by various European ladies and gentlemen, 

 who described it as a large ball of fire, accompanied 

 by a rolling noise, which they compared to bad 

 firing. Mr. Judge Davu observed the light to 

 into the room which he occupied, through the 

 ment, and so strongly as to project shadows very dis- 

 tinctly on a dark-coloured carpet. 



When intelligence of th event reached Benares, Mr. 

 Davis dispatched a judicious person to make the re- 

 itries. The natives, on being interrogated, 

 that they had either broken to pieces, or 

 given to the collector and others, all the stone* which 

 they had gathered, but that other* might still be found 

 in the field*, by observing where the earth appeared 

 to be recently turned up. Four were accordingly pro- 

 cured, and brought to Mr. Davis. They had sunk 

 about six inches deep into field*, which seemed to have 

 bean freshly watered, and about the distance of a hun- 

 dred yards from one another. The person deputed to 

 obtain information, wa< likewise told by the inhabit- 

 ant* of the village, that, about eight o'clock in the 

 evening, when they had retired to their dwellings, 

 they observed a very brilliant light, proceeding as from 

 the sky, accompanied by a loud peal of thunder, which 

 was immediately followed by the noise of heavy bodies 

 falling in the neighbourhood. Uncertain whether same 

 of then* deities might not be uaucetucd in this occur- 

 they did not venture out till next morning, 



when the first circumstance which attracted their at- 

 tention was the broken appearance of the surface of 

 the ground : and farther investigation corroborated 

 particulars. Mr. M'Lane, a gentleman who raw 

 hard by Krak-hut, gave Mr. Howard part of a 

 which had been brought to him by the watch- 

 man who was on duty at his bouse. This, he said, 

 had fallen through the top of his hut, which was close 

 by, and buried itself several inches in the floor, which 

 was of hardened earth. At the time that this meteor 

 the sky was perfectly serene, and not a 

 ! had been seen since the 1 1th of the month, nor 

 had any been observed for many days after. 



" Of these stone*,* says Mr. Howard, " I have Man 

 eight, nearly perfect, beside* parts of several others, 

 which had been broken by the possessors, to distribute 

 their friend*. The form of the more perfect 

 1 to be that of an irregular cube, round- 



ed off at the edges ; but the angles were to be observ. Meteorite. 

 ed on most of them. They were of various sizes, from V ~ P "V~' 

 about three to upwards of four inches in their largest 

 diameter ; one of them, measuring four inches and a 

 quarter, weighed two pounds twelve ounces. In ap- 

 pearance they were exactly similar : externally, they 

 were covered with a hard black coat, or incrustation, 

 which, in some parts, had the appearance of varnish, 

 or bitumen ; and on most of them were fractures, 

 which, from their being covered with matter similar to 

 that of the coat, seemed to have been made in the fall, 

 by the stones striking against each other, and to have 

 pawed through some medium, probably an intense 

 heat, previous to their reaching the earth. Internally, 

 they consisted of a number of small spherical bodies, 

 of a slate colour, embedded in a whitish gritty sub- 

 stance, interspersed with bright shining npiculir, of a 

 metallic or pyritical nature. The spherical bodies 

 were much harder than the rest of the stone: the 

 white gritty part .readily crumbled, on being rubbed 

 with a nard body ; and, on being broken, a quantity 

 attached itself to the magnet, but more particularly 

 the outside coat or crust, which appeared almost whol- 

 ly attractable by it. 



It i* well known there are no volcano* on the con- 

 tinent of India; and, as far as I can learn, no stones 

 have been met with in the earth in that part of the 

 world, which bear the smallest resemblance to those 

 above described." 



The history of the Benares meteor, then, speaks too 

 distinctly for itself to stand in need of commentary. 



April 5, 1799- Stones fell at Batonrouge, on the Mis- Baton- 

 sissippi. Ilrlfatl CkrtmicU of the ll'ar, rouce. 



April 5, 1800. At night, a body wholly luminous 

 was seen to move over a portion of America with pro- America. 

 digious velocity. It* apparent size was that of a large 

 house seventy feet long, and its elevation above the 

 surface of the earth about 200 yards. It diffused a 

 light little inferior to that of the sun ; and those who 

 saw it perceived a considerable degree of heat, but no 

 electrical sensation. Immediately after it disappeared in 

 the north-wot, with a violent rushing noise, which in a 

 few seconds was followed by a tremendous crash, and a 

 very sensible vibration of the earth. Search being after- 

 wards made in the place where the burning body fell, 

 every vegetable was found burnt, or greatly scorched, and 

 a considerable portion of the earth's surface broken up. 

 ' We have to lament," remarks Mr. Howard, " that the 

 authors of this account did not search deeper than the 

 surface of the ground. Such an immense body, though 

 moving in a horizontal direction, could not but be bu- 

 ried to a considerable depth. Should it have been more 

 than the semblance of a body of a peculiar nature, the 

 lapse of ages may perhaps effect what has now been ne- 

 glected, and its magnitude and solitary situation be- 

 come the astonishment of future philosophers.'* I'hilat. 

 MM, 



1801. M. Dory dr. Si. Vincent, the ingenious author Itlt aux 

 of Voytge dan* let quntrei principles /ties dei Men Tonnelierj. 

 tAfrvpu, relates, (torn. iii. p. 253,) that in consequence 

 of particular instructions from M. Hubert, he had, 

 when on the Isle aux Tonneliers, made diligent search 

 for the fragments of a stone which had been broken, 

 and employed in the construction of a wall. Of these 

 fragments he discovered three ; one about the tize of a 

 melon, but too fast locked in the plaster to be detached, 

 and the other two about the size of an orsnge each, and 

 which were easily separated. They all evidently be- 

 longed to the same mass, and, though their fracture had 



