V 



THE NEW SCIENCE OF METEOROLOGY 



METEORITES 



"AN astonishing miracle has just occurred in our dis- 

 /v trict," wrote M. Marais, a worthy if undistinguished 

 citizen of France, from his home at L'Aigle, under date 

 of "the i3th Flor6al, year n "a date which outside 

 of France would be interpreted as meaning May 3, 

 1803. This "miracle" was the appearance of a "fire- 

 ball" in broad daylight "perhaps it was wildfire," 

 says the naive chronicle which " hung over the mead- 

 ow," being seen by many people, and then exploded 

 with a loud sound, scattering thousands of stony frag- 

 ments over the surface of a territory some miles in ex- 

 tent. 



Such a " miracle" could not have been announced at 

 a more opportune time. For some years the scientific 

 world had been agog over the question whether such a 

 form of lightning as that reported appearing in a clear 

 sky, and hurling literal thunderbolts had real exist- 

 ence. Such cases had been reported often enough, it 

 is true. The "thunderbolts" themselves were exhib- 

 ited as sacred relics before many an altar, and those 

 who doubted their authenticity had been chided as 

 having "an evil heart of unbelief." But scientific 

 scepticism had questioned the evidence, and late in the 



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