104 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1714. 



was 38 degrees, and at Siena, 58 to the N. N. W., that its course, by the con- 

 currence of all the observers, was from E. N. E. to W. S. W. that it came over 



impinging of the stones on bodies somewhat above the earth, or lying loose on its surface — are cir- 

 cumstances perfectly well authenticated in tliese reports ; pro\ ing that such meteors are usually in- 

 flamed hard masses, descending rapidly through the air to the earth. 



Having drawn this conclusion from the consideration of the more plain and obvious circumstances 

 of these stones and meteors ; we may now advert to those of the more close and intimate examina- 

 tion of the stones themselves : and tliis we find at once strengthening the foregoing conclusion, and 

 conducting to a further knowledge of the subject, than is afforded by the mere external evidence 

 only. 



The reports of all those persons who saw and observed the meteors, and fovmd the stones in the 

 several places, after the explosions, uniformly agree, in describing those substances as different from 

 all the neighbouring bodies, and as presenting in every case, the same external appearance of semi- 

 metallic matter, coated on the outside with a tliin black crust, and bearing strong marks of recent 

 fusion. Besides this general resemblance, obvious to the most ordinary inspection, many of those 

 singular substances have been most carefully examined by some of the first chemists and naturalists 

 of the age, and their investigations have put us in possession of a mass of information, sufficient to 

 convince the most scrupulous inquirer, that the bodies in question have a common origin, and that 

 we are totally unacquainted with any natural process which could have formed them on our globe. 



The more nice and chemical examination of those stones has been made by Messrs. De la Laude, 

 Lavoisier, Fougeraux, Cadet, Vauquelin, Barthold, Count de Bournon, our learned countryman, 

 Mr. Howard, and several other ingenious menj and all their reports agree in representing them of a 

 similar nature and composition, formed of the same simple materials, of nearly the same specific weight, 

 and with very slight variations in the proportions of the component parts, forming the aggregate of 

 these masses. Mr. Howard and the Count de Bournon found that the specific gravities of all the 

 stones were nearly the same, excepting that the greater abundance of iron in one of them caused a 

 considerable increase in its gravity. Spec. grav. 



From their researches, it appears that the specific The Ensisheim stone 3233 



gravities of some of the more remarkable stones, Benares 3352 



are as in the annexed table, considering 1000 as the Sienna 3418 



proportionate number for the specific gravity of Gassendi's 3456 



water. From whence it appears that, in this res- Yorkshire 3508 



pect, they greatly exceed all the known ordinary Bachelay's 3535 



stones, and approach to those of the metallic ores. Bohemia 4281 



All the stones examined by Count de Bournon and Mr. Howard were found to consist of four dis- 

 tinct substances, viz. small metallic particles, a peculiar martial pyrites, a number of globular and 

 elliptical bodies, also of a peculiar nature, and an earthy cement surrounding the other component 

 parts. The nature of the metallic particles was the same in all, being in each an alloy of iron and 

 nickel. In the pyrites, nickel as well as iron was detected} and the easy decomposition of the pyrites 

 by muriatic acid, afforded a distinguishing character of that substance. The globules contained silica, 

 magnesia, and oxides of nickel and iron. The earthy cement consisted of the same substances, very 

 nearly in the same proportions. 



M. Vauquelin also, about the same time as Mr. Howard, analysed the Benares stone, and two 

 others which fell in 1789 and 1790, in the south of Francej and the results of his experiments agreed 

 with those of Mr. Howard in every particular. So that we are now authorised to conclude, that the 

 stones which have at different times fallen down on the earth, in England, France, Italy, and India, 



