M E T E O R I T E. 



131 



from the smith-east to the north-west, and continued, 

 as they supposed, for about two minute*. They com- 

 pared it, at first, to four discharges of cannon, after- 

 wards to the sound of a bell, or rather of a gong, with 

 a violently whizzing noise ; and, lastly, they heard a 

 sound, as if some hard body very forcibly struck the 

 surface of the earth. At the same time, sixteen men 

 who were at work in the Fossil stone quarry, thirty 

 feet under the surface of the (oil, heard a noise like 

 the discharge of artillery, and then like the sound of 

 hard substances hurling downwards, over stones, and 

 lasting, in the whole, for about the space of a minute. 

 The overseer of the quarry, and a man who was on a 

 tree, described the noise a* if continuing about two 

 minutes, apparently beginning in the west, and pass- 

 ing round by the south, towards the east, at first like 

 the firing of three or four cannons, at the distance of 

 a mile and a half to the west of the quarry, and ter- 

 minating in a violent rushing, or whizzing. Along 

 with these persons, there were two boys, ene of ten, 

 and the other of four year* of age, and a dog, which, 

 on bearing the noise, ran home, seemingly in great 

 terror. The overseer, too, waa considerably alarmed 

 by a misty commotion which be ubaeiied in the at- 

 mosphere. " Come down," exclaimed he, to the man 

 on the tree, " I think there is some judgment coming 

 upon u>." The man had scarcely got on the ground, 

 when something struck, with great force, in a drain, at 

 the* distance of about ninety yards, (plashing mud and 

 water for twenty feet round. The elder boy observed 

 the appearance of smoke in the air, and something of 

 a reddish colour, moving rapidly from the west, till it 

 fell on the ground. A moment before the stroke on 

 the earth was beard, the younger boy called out 

 ' rik a reek!" (such moke.) alluding to the 

 moke which he saw near the place where the body 

 fell on the ground. On running up to this (pot, the 

 overseer ebniied bole in the bottom of the drain, 

 which was filling with water, about six inches of it 

 remaining -t.il empty. At the bottom of this hole he 

 felt something hard, which he could not move with his 

 hand. The operation of the .Hovel and mattock re- 

 vealed two piece* of stone, which had penetrated a 

 few inches into the soft sandy rock, and eighteen inche* 

 below the bottom of the drain, the hole being about 

 fifteen inches in diameter. He was not sensible of any 

 particular heat in the water, or in the pkcs* of stone, 

 nor of anv uncommon smell in the latter, although he 

 applied them to hi* nostril*. One of the piece* wa* 

 about two inche* long, the other about six inches long, 

 four broad, and four thick, and blunted at the edge* 

 and end. The fracture* of the two piece* exactly co- 

 incided ; but be could not *ay whether their separa- 

 tion had been effected by the violence of the fall, or 

 stroke of the mattock. A* he conceived them to be 

 merely piece* of hiaetutu, they were, at first, neglect- 

 ed ; but a careful search being made for them, come 

 day* after, the smallest fragment wa* soon found. The 

 kwgeet, however, having been used a* a Muck in the 

 qeanj, and having fallen among rubbish, could not be 

 dueevered ; but a fragment of it wa* found some day* 

 after. The two recovered morsels, one of which is de- 

 posited in the Hnnterisn museum, in the university of 

 Glasgow, formed the two extreme* of the stone, and 

 are characterised by the smooth black external coating, 

 and the internal grvyfab aspect. The late Robert Craw. 



ed, that both the fragments had a fishy, fetid smell, Meteorite, 

 when he first received them. The day on which the ""^ "Y*** 

 phenomenon took place, was cold and cloudy ; and the 

 noise of the explosion was heard as far as Falkirk, 

 which is about twenty-four mile* to the east of Glas- 

 gow. 



1804, or 1807. A stone fell near Dordrecht. /'* Dordrcht. 

 Bfclc-CaUoeit. 



October 6, 1804. A violent explosion was heard, Apt. 

 near Apt, in the department of Vaucluse, and for fif- 

 teen leagues round, accompanied by an extraordinary 

 hissing, and the fall of a stone of about seven pounds 

 weight. It was presented, by the minister of the in- 

 terior, to the National Institute ; and Vauquelin, who 

 alludes to it in No. 14-4 of the Anncdtt de Cftimir, as- 

 sert*, that all its physical characters, and the details of 

 the judicial report concerning it, are in perfect unison 

 with our present state of knowledge on the subject. 

 It is, however,* worthy of remark, that the detonation 

 was preceded by no luminous meteor. Laugier re- 

 ports, M the result* of the chemical analysis of the 



Silica, 



Magnesia, 



Iron, 



Nickel, 



Manganeee, 



Sulphur, 



fcrd of POM) 

 the *mierisity 



al greyish as 

 , Esq. and a 

 of Glasgow, 



aeveral of the professors of 

 were at pain* to ascertain 

 circumettncee, Mr. Crawford remark. 



96.69. 



March 25, 1805. Stone* fell near Doroninsk, at no DoroniMfc. 

 great distance from the river fndoga, in the govern- 

 ment of Irkutsch. in Siberia. d'lM. Am. 



June, 1H05. Hair Kouga* Ingigian, author of a 

 work entitled, Kgkam/f.finzamtmm, printed at Venice, 

 in 1807. make* mesKJsss of several stones having fallen 

 in one of the public square* of Constantinople, called rjonitaniu 

 Etmtgdtmy. Hair Mesrob Vartabete, an Armenian, nople. 

 conversant hi chemistry, mineralogy, and in the phy- 

 sical and mathematical science* in genera), translated 

 the passage which give* an account of this event, into 

 French, lor the perusal of M. Tonnelier ; and the lat- 

 ter, in the Journal of Minn for February 1808, brief- 

 ly states, that the descent of the stones took place in 

 broad day, and with great violence ; that the people 

 believed it to be the work of evil spirits; that the 

 agent* of police verified the fact ; and that a guard of 

 Janmaries wa* stationed on the spot, for three succes- 

 sive days and night*. The smell of sulphur which ac- 

 companied the fall, and the black and scorched crust of 

 the piece* collected, scarcely permit us to doubt that 

 they were genuine meteorite*. 



March 15, 1806'. In the Journal dt Phytique, for 

 June ISOri, there is a short account of the fall of two 

 ero/t/er, (for so they are termed in the report,) by Dr. 

 Page* and M. Dhombres-Firraas, both members of the 

 Academy of Ghent. The particulars are nearly as 

 follow : 



At half-past five o'clock in the evening, the inha- AUis, ** 

 bitants of Alai, and the neighbouring pnrishes, heard 

 two loud explosions, between which only a few 

 second* intervened, and which were both supposed to 

 be the discharge of cannon. The rolling noise which 

 succeeded, lasted ten or twelve minutes. Some drops 

 of rain had fallen in the morning ; the sky was clear 

 at mid-day ; but clouds occasionally obscured the sun 

 in the afternoon, when the centigrade thermometer in- 

 dicated a maximum of -f- 12.5. The heaven* became 

 more cloudy and dark after the detonations. The 

 5 



