142 



METEOROLOGY. 



Meteoi-ttt. the surface of the earth, would, on a fair computation 

 '"""Y"""' of chances, imply such a copious discharge of volcanic 

 matters, that the moon, by this time, should consist of 

 hardly any thing else. Further, if we may be allowed 

 to reason from analogy, we should expect the volcanic 

 productions of the moon to exhibit varieties of aspect 

 and composition, and not a definite and precise num- 

 ber of the same ingredients. The resistance which a 

 body falling from our satellite, would experience in its 

 transit through our atmosphere, combined with the 

 two-fold motion of the earth, may sufficiently obviate 

 the ordinary objection derived from the comparative- 

 ly moderate impulse with which meteorites usually 

 impinge on the earth's surface, but affords no solution 

 of the more formidable difficulty, deduced from the 

 want of coincidence, in point of time, between the 

 descent of these stones and the moon's position, she 

 being .as often in their nadir as in their zenith. 

 Cojmical ^ r - Chladni, who, for years, has devoted much of 

 hypothesis, his attention to the history of meteoric stones, long 

 since intimidated his belief, that they are cosmical 

 bodies, or fragments of planetary matter. As earthy, 

 metallic, and other particles, form the principal com- 

 ponent parts of our planet, among which iron is the 

 prevailing ingredient, other planetary bodies, he af- 

 firms, may consist of similar, or, perhaps, of the same 

 component parts, though combined and modified in a 

 very different manner. There may also be dense mat- 

 ters, accumulated in smaller masses, dispersed through- 

 out infinite space, and which, being impelled either 

 by some projecting power or attraction, continue to 

 move until they approach the earth, or some other 

 body, when, being overcome by gravitating force, they 

 immediately fall down. By their exceeding great ve- 

 locity, and the violent friction in the atmosphere, a 

 strong electricity and heat must necessarily be excited, 

 by which means they are reduced to a flaming and 



melted condition, and great quantities of vapour, and Meteorite, 

 different kinds of gases are thus disengaged, which """Y""'"'' 

 distend the liquid mass, until, by a still further expan- 

 sion of these elastic fluids, the whole at length ex- 

 plodes. 



Our principal objection to tins sort of reasoning is, 

 that the leading idea of portions of cosmical matter 

 being allowed to revolve in space, and to terminate 

 their career on the surface of a planetary orb, is stated 

 in terms too vague and gratuitous ; but it assumes 

 somewhat of reason and consistency, when propounded 

 with the particular developement of which we have 

 conceived it to be susceptible. 



Although we have now allotted to this curious sub- 

 ject, as much space as our limits will permit, we are 

 still far from having exhausted its details ; and we 

 shall, therefore, conclude by recommending to the pe- 

 rusal of our inquisitive readers, Stepliny; df Plnvia La- 

 pi (lea ; Troili's Essay, already cited; Tzarn Lithol *gic Works t 

 Afwotpkfriqve ; Bigot de Morogues, Memoires Himu- be comult- 

 riqiics el Physiques, sur les Chutes de Pierres, 2 T. ; 

 Chladni on the Siberian mass of Iron, and his Catalogue 

 of Meteors ; Gilbert's Physical Annuls; Opnscoii Sci-lli ; 

 Bjera tie Indole et Or/gine Aerolithoium DiffAMo; 

 Biot, Relation d'un Voyage fait duns le Department de 

 I'Orne, c. Bottiger's Observations on the Accounts given 

 by ancient Authors of Stones said lo have fallen from the 

 Clouds; Ful da's Memoirs on Fi,~e- Balls; Cavallo's 

 Elements of Natural Philosophy, vol. 4th. Klaproth on 

 Meteoric Stones ; King's Remarks concerning Stones said 

 to have fallen from the Clouds ; Soldani's Account of the 

 Tuscan meteor ; and various recent and scientific com- 

 munications, contained in the transactions of learned 

 societies, and in periodical journals, foreign and do- 

 mestic; to the most important of which we have occa- 

 sionally referred in the course of the article. (11. N. A.) 



METEOROLOGY. 



Mcteorolo- 1V1.ETEOROLOGY may be defined that department of 



gy- 



Definition. 



physical science which treats of atmospherical pheno- 

 mena. This definition is immediately suggested by 

 the original import of the word, as derived from ^.-rta^a,, 

 meteors; and Aoyoj, a discourse. The word meteors, 

 indeed, has, in our language, been almost exclusively 

 confined to those luminous bodies, whicli are seen occa- 

 sionally in our atmosphere, and whose appearance and 

 motion have not hitherto been reduced to any definite 

 law. In Greek, however, the word uirta^x, (from 

 fimuw, high or elevated,) was indiscriminately applied 

 to all bodies, whether luminous or opaque, that ap- 

 peared in, or were deposited from the atmosphere ; and 

 the term meteorology is still used in the same, or even 

 a more extended acceptation. It denotes the investi- 

 gation, not only of those atmospherical phenomena that 

 are of comparatively rare occurrence, and may be more 

 properly denominated meteors, but of the various 

 changes also, that are observed to take place in the 

 state of the atmosphere itself. But for this extended 

 application of the word, the subject would be compa- 

 ratively uninteresting, and could with little propriety 

 be dignified with the appellation of a science. Bodies 

 that appear only at irregular intervals, at a considerable 

 distance from the earth, and perhaps but for a few se. 



conds at a time, though unquestionably deserving of jyf t (eorolo 

 being noticed and recorded, are not likely soon to be gy. 

 subjected to any thing like accurate investigation, or < *^v~** / 

 ever to be interesting, otherwise than as objects of cu- 

 riosity or conjecture. The case, however, is very dif- 

 ferent with those atmospherical phenomena, which, 

 from their frequency or vicinity to the earth, immedi- 

 ately affect the comfort and subsistence of its inhabi- 

 tants. These must be at all times interesting, and in 

 the progressive advancement of physical science, they 

 are becoming every day more so, in consequence of the 

 invention of various instruments, by which their effects 

 maybe more accurately estimated ; and their causes, 

 it is to be hoped, in due time unfolded and explained. 

 It is chiefly to these last, therefore, as constituting the 

 great principles of meteorological science, that we pro- 

 pose directing the attention of our readers in the pre- 

 sent article, and shall purposely avoid dwelling, at any 

 great length, on the state of meteorology previous to 

 the invention of those instruments, by which, in mo- 

 dern times, this department of science has been en- 

 riched, or on such phenomena as have not )'et been 

 made the subject of any thing like direct experiment. 



From the nature of the facts that form the subject of History. 

 meteorological research, it might be inferred that they 



