METEORITE. 



133 



; e,rloU, 



gut 



. stones Were found in sit different places, newly in the 



line of the meteor's path, and from six to ten miles 



distant from one another. They fell in the presence of 



many witnesses, some plunging into soft soil, and 



others breaking into fragments against the rocks on 



which they happened to impinge. The most entire 



specimen weighed 35 lb., but a much larger was dash- 



ed in pieces against a rock of mica-slate; and, from 



the amount of fragments collected, it was estimated to 



have weighed 200 lb. At the moment of their (all, 



these stones were hot and friable ; but they gradually 



became hard by exposure to the air. They had the 



black external crust of other meteorites, and the usual 



grey cinereous aspect within, with white-greyish par- 



ticles. of a rounded form, impacted in the mass, and a 



general granular texture, in which were observable, 



1. Globules of the same nature with the stone, but 



presenting a more compact structure, a more vn 



fracture, and, under a strong light, indications of 



lamellar texture, with the appearance of felspar ; 3. 



Grains of very white metallic iron ; 3. Grains of oxy d 



of iron, of rust colour ; and, *. Shining yellow suU 



phuret of iron, ilinanrinatifl in very minute grains. 



Their specific gravity varied from 3.3 to 3.6, and their 



analysis, a* reported by Warden, yielded, 



Silica, . . 41 



Alumina, . . 1 



I inc. . . S 



Magnesia, . . 16 



Oxy d at* iron, . SO 



Mannanr, . . 1.34 



Sulphur, . . 2.33 



Chrome, . . 2.33 



97 



Such is a mere outline of the principal circumiUn. 

 es relative to the Weston phinaannun, for the more 

 ample detail* of which we mutt refer our readers to an 

 interesting memoir, inserted in the Medical Repository 

 for 1 807, the joint production of Messrs. Silliman and 

 Kingsley, and to another by Mr. Bowditch, published 

 in the third volume of the America*) Academy of Art* 

 IK! Sciences, and reprinted in the 28th volume of 

 Nicholson'* Journal. 



March 5 and 6, 1808. A shower of red snow fell, 

 during three nights, in Carniola, and over the whole 

 surface of Caraia, Cadore, Belluno, and Feltri, to the 

 height of five feet ten inches. The earth wat pro 

 vioasly covered with snow of a pure white, and the 

 coloured variety was again succeeded by the common 

 sort, the two kinds remaining perfectly distinct, even 

 (luring liquefaction. When a portion of the red was 

 melted, and the water evaporated, a little finely divid- 

 ed earth, of a rose hoe, remained, not attractable by 

 the magnet, and confuting of silex, alumine, and oxyd 

 of iron. The same phenomenon was observed, at the 

 some time, on the mountain* of the Valteline, Brescia, 

 and the Tyrol. 



April 19, 18O8. At one o'clock, P.M. stone* fell at 

 Borgo Sen- Domino, near Pieve di Cassignano, in the 

 department of Tiro, and in the neighbourhood of 

 Parma and Placrni i. Guutotti, who analysed a spe. 

 found it to consist of, 

 Silio, 

 Magnesia, 

 d of iron, 

 vel, 

 Sulphur, 



100.50 



A specimen of this shower is preserved in the Vi- Meteorite. 

 enna cabinet, a repository rich in the number of sam- '" v-'J 

 pies of this description ot stones. 



May 22, 1808. At six o'clock in the morning, a Stannero. 

 bower of stones occurred at Stannem, near Iglau, in 

 Moravia, attended with the usual circumstances. These 

 tones are described as of a whitish or blueish-grey, 

 tender, friable, not magnetic, speckled with black 

 points, containing very few visible metallic particles, 

 except some prominent grains, not attractable by the 

 magnet, and probably pyritical. The exterior crust 

 resembled a black, or brown varnish, very glossy and 

 vitreous, having the surface marked by minute folds 

 or wrinkles. Their specific gravity was 3.19 ; and the 

 result of their analysis by Vauquelin, 



Silica, 

 Alumina, 

 Lime, 

 Iron, 

 Nickel, a trace, 



Sulphur, a trace. 



50 

 9 

 12 

 9 



101 



Meter's report include* 2.5 of magnesia. 



September 3, 1 806. M. Renss, counsellor of mine*, 

 ha* published a Memoir on the meteorite* which fell, 

 at half-past three o'clock, in the afternoon, near Liiaa, 

 in Bohemia: and from this document we have selected 



Four days after the event, the mayor of the district 

 received an official report on the subject, as did after- 

 ward* M. Merkl, counsellor of the government, who 

 communicated the content* to the Chancery. Lissa is a 

 all town, situated four miles west north-west from 

 Prague ; and the district in which the stones fell is a 

 nlain which extends southwards to the banks of the 

 Elbe. The soil, in general, is a dry meagre sand, fit 

 only for the culture of rye, and the rocks which it 

 comprises are of a ferruginous argillaceous sandstone. 

 The field on which the meteorites alighted had been 

 recently ploughed, and had for its basts a very open, 

 sandy earth, into which, nevertheless, one of the stone* 

 sunk only to the depth of four inches. Another, which 

 fell on an adjoining field, of a somewhat more compact 

 and argillaceous texture, penetrated four or five inches. 

 A third fell in a small pine forest, on a sandy soil, co- 

 vered here and there with green turf, and left, in like 

 manner, a mark of four or five inches deep. Though 

 all its angles were more or less fractured, it weighed 

 five pounds, nine ounces and a half. The most intel- 

 ligent people in the neighbourhood, declared that they 

 heard a violent detonation, like the discharge of many 

 piece* of ordnance, followed by a noise like platoon 

 firing, or a prolonged beating of drums, which lasted 

 for twenty or twenty-five minutes. The sky, which 

 had been perfectly clear, became covered as with a thin 

 gauze, through which the sun's rays easily penetrated; 

 but nobody perceived lightning, nor any luminous me- 

 teor, nor felt any of that oppressive uneasiness which 

 frequently indicates an electrified atmosphere. Of the 

 four masses which were collected, the actual de-ivnt 

 of none through the air appears to have been distinctly 

 witnessed ; but some reapers, who took up one of them, 

 at the moment that it struck the ground, tV-lt it as < old 

 as the surrounding stones ; and none of them stained 

 the fingers, or emitted any sulphureous odour. In 

 ether respects, they bore a manifest resemblance to 

 many of those which we have described, being com- 

 posed of mixed ingredients, of a pale cincrous grey co. 



