METEORITE 



135 



Mettoriit. Briile, all which placet are within the distance of a 

 s Y " mile. One of the stones weighed about twenty pounds, 

 and made a hole in the ground just large enough fur it- 

 admission, in a perpendicular direction, driving up the 

 earth to the height of eight or ten feet. It was taken out 

 half an hour after, when it was still so hot that it could 

 scarcely be held in the hand ; and it had a strong smell 

 of gunpowder, which it retained till it was quite cold. 

 The second formed a similar hole, three feet deep, 

 weighed forty pounds, and lay fourteen hours in the 

 ground before it was extracted, when it was quite 

 cool. 



Both these stones were shapeless masses, irregularly 

 rounded at the projections, contained rather more fer- 

 ruginous globule* than those of L'Aigle, and presented 

 a lighter colour, when broken. They were quickly 

 oxydated, very heavy, sufficiently hard to scratch glass, 

 of difficult frangibility, and characteriied by an irregu- 

 lar and very fine-grained fracture. The external crust 

 was the fourth part of a line in thickness, and of 

 blackish-grey colour, while the internal substance was 

 traversed by black lines, or vein*, in all directions. 

 The specific gravity of these tone* is mentioned, as 

 varying from 3.6 to S.7 ; and the specimen analysed 

 by Vauquelin, afforded to that eminent chemist, 



Silica l 



Alumine, . . . 3.6 



I.irae, . . . 4.2 



ftfafMk '<> 



Iron 25.8 



<e\ 



Manganese, . . . 0.6 



Chrome, 



The day on which these stones fell wai remarkably 

 calm and serene, the sun shone as bright as in one of 

 the finest days of autumn, and not a cloud appeared 

 above the horizon. 



March 12, 1811. A meteorite, of the weight of fif- 

 teen pound*, fell to the earth, in the village of Thon- 

 Ugbortwk, dcprmlant on the town of Honiea. in the 

 government of TscheraigofT, in Ru**ia. Its fall was 

 preceded by three loud peals like thunder. When dug 

 from the depth of more than three feet, in a thick layer 

 of ice, it was still hot. It was remarked, that, at the 

 third detonation, there was an extraordinary explosion,, 

 accompanied with a loud hissing noise, and the diffu- 

 sion of a great quantity of sparks. Gilb. An. 

 Bn.njuii- July 8, 1811. Stones, one of which weighed three 

 la*. ounces and a quarter, fell at Ballinguillas, in Spain. 



BiMiaff JrriteiZlUa. 



Cmuwi*. April 10, 1812. According to the report of D'Au- 

 Mr Too- bniason, chief engineer of mines, about eight o'clock in 

 the evening, a brilliant light was seen in the atino. 

 sphere at Toulouse, and for several leagues around. 

 The people at first supposed, that the powder maga- 

 zine of Toulouse had been blown up ; and, when it 

 was discovered that this was unfounded, the light and 

 noise were ascribed to some extraordinary meteor ; for 

 the cold state of the atmosphere, and the force of the 

 explosion, did not admit the idea of its being a simple 

 peal of thunder. A few days afterwards, it was ascer- 

 tained that this phenomenon had been accompanied 

 with a shower of stones, at two leagues W. N. W. of 

 Grenade, in the communes of Burgave, Camville, and 

 in, situated in the departments of the Upper Ga- 

 ronne, and of the Tarn and Garonne. Ai some specu 



T , 



OTMk. 



men* were sent to the prefect of the Upper Garonne, Meteont*. 

 that magistrate appointed a committee, composed of '"Y"*' 

 M. D'Aubuisson, M. Saget, of the Academy of Sci- 

 ences, Marque-Victor, professor of physics, and Carney, 

 professor of mathematics, to proceed to the spot, and 

 collect the details of the phenomenon. 



The liijht which spread over the atmosphere, burst 

 forth all at once. Although the sun had set an hour 

 and a half before, and the air was dark, the light was 

 so brilliant, tli.it the Mayor of Grenade said he could 

 read the smallest characters, and the Mayor of Camville 

 compared it to the light of the sun, adding, that the 

 town-clock was as visible as at noon-day, and that a 

 pin might have been picked up from the streets. The 

 exact duration of this light was not remarked, some 

 persons reckoning it at two minutes ; others at one ; and 

 others, at still less : but scarcely had it disappeared in 

 the place where the meteorites fell, when tnere were 

 heard in the air three violent detonations, similar 

 to the report of large pieces of cannon, succeeding 

 one another, with hardly any interval, and heard at 

 Castres, twenty leagues from the spot where the stones 

 fell. They were followed by a very loud noise, which 

 some compared to that of heavy carriages rolling at 

 once on the pavement ; others compared it to the sound 

 of several drum's ; and others to a strong fire of mus- 

 ketry, from the Spaniards having invaded the count r\ . 

 This rolling noise seemed to issue from the N. K. ami 

 to proceed to the S. I-.. ; and, after it had passed over 

 the ground situated between the farms of la Bordette 

 and la Pradere, a sharp hissing noise was heard, which 

 ended in considerable shocks, similar to grape-shot 

 striking the (round, and produced by the fall of the 

 meteorites. 



" I now," tays M. D'Aubuisson, " give the informa- 

 tion received, as to the Aerolites which were collected, 

 or heard to fall. 



"1. The inhabitants of the little farm called la Bor- 

 dette, distinctly heard two aerolites fall ; one to the 

 northward, in a field adjoining, which they have not 

 yet found : the other was found about fifty paces to the 

 south-east : the fragment which we have weighs three 

 ounces, and the whole stone did not weigh six. 



At the cottage called Paris, (300 metres above 

 Pemrjan) the inhabitants were at the door, listening to 

 the rolling noise over their heads, when they heard 

 the noise of a body which fell in front of them. The 

 master of the house then went back through the house, 

 to shut the door of a stable, and, when there, be heard 

 a second large body fall. The interval between the 

 two must have been about 15 seconds. This fact is of 

 importance. 



" S. At Pemejan, the inhabitants, equally alarmed 

 t a stone which fell near them, took refuge in the 

 house, when they heard a second hissing sound, fol- 

 lowed by the noise of body falling on the roof. 

 Next day they found a tile broken, and a stone, weigh- 

 ing about three ounces, resting on the lath. Having 

 carefully examined this spot, I found no contusion, nor 

 any mark of fire on the wood of the roof. In the vi- 

 cinity of the farm, two stones were found, which weigh- 

 ed only a few ounces. 



" 4. At Richard, after the rolling noise, an explosion 

 was heard in the air, and next day a stone, weighing 

 eight ounces, was found. 



" 5. At Pradere there fell, about one pace from the 

 house, with considerable noise, and more than a minute 

 after the detonations, an aerolite, weighing two pounds. 

 It was not entirely sunk in the earth, and was not per* 



