8(50 HISTORY OF 



To these meteors, common enough southward, we will add 

 one more of a very uncommon kind, which was seen by Ulloa, 

 at Quito, in Peru ; the beauty of which will, in some measure, 

 serve to relieve us, after the description of those hideous ones 



versed Britain and a considerable part of tlip continent of Europe ivith very 

 great velocity, and at the height of nearly 60 miles from the surface of the 

 earth. Almost all the meteors observed resembled each other. They wtre 

 luminous at a great height, moved very swiftly, and disappeared in a very 

 short time. Their disappearance was usually accompanied by a loud explo. 

 sion like a clap of thunder ; and it was almost constantly affirmed, that heavy 

 stony bodies fell from them to the earth. But though several well authenti- 

 cated accounts of the fall of such stones had been from time to time published, 

 little credit was given to thera ; nor did they indeed attract the attention ot 

 philosophers, till Dr Chladni published a dissertation on the subject in 1791.. 

 Two years after, Mr King published a still more complete collei-tion of ex- 

 amples, both ancient and modern ; many of them supported by such evi- 

 dence that it was impossible to reject it. These two dissertations excited 

 considerable attention : but the opinion, that etones had really fallen from 

 the atmosphere, was considered as so extraordinary, and so contrary to what 

 we know of the constitution of the air, that most people hesitated or refused 

 their assent. Meanwhile INlr Howard took a different method of investigat- 

 ing the subject. He not only collected all the recent and well authenticated 

 accounts of the fall of stony bodies, and examined the evidence of their truth, 

 but procured specimens of the stones which were said to have fallen in dif . 

 fercut places, compared thera together, and subjected them to a chemical 

 analysis. The result was, that all these stony bodies differ completely from 

 every other known stone ; that they all resemble each other, and that they are 

 all composed of the same ingredients, although found in climates and in soils 

 exceedingly different from each other. The stones when they f;ill are always 

 hot. They commonly bury themselves some depth under ground. Their 

 size differs from a few ounces to several tons. They are usually roundish, 

 and always covered with a black crust. In many cases they smell strongly 

 of sulphur. The black crust, from the analysis of Howard, consists chiefly 

 of iron. The outer surface of these stones is rough. When broken, they 

 appear of an ash-grey colour, and of a granular texture like a coaese sand- 

 stone. The metals found in them are iron, nickel, chromium, and cobalt. 

 Now these constitute the whole of the magnetic metals. Various attempUs 

 have been made to account for their appearance. But such is the obscurity 

 of the subject, so little progress have we made in the science of meteorology, 

 that no opinion in the slightest degree probable has hitherto been advanced. 

 It was first supposed that the bodies in question had been thrown out of vol. 

 canoes ; but the immense distance from all volcanoes at which they have been 

 found, and the absence of all similar stones from volcanic productions, render 

 this opinion untenable. Chladni endeavoured to prove that the meteors 

 from which they fell were bodies floating in space, unconnected with any 

 planetary system, attracted by the earth in their progress, and kindled by 

 their rapid motion through the atmosphere. But this opinion is not auscep 

 tible of any direct evidence, and can scarcely be believed, one would tliink. 



