When any new and unexplained phenomenon offers itself to our inquiry, the 

 first duty of the investigator is to inform himself, with the most scrupulous ac- 

 curacy, of all the circumstances, however minute, which accompany it ; and if 

 past observation can not answer all circumstantial inquiries which his under- 

 standing may suggest as necessary, he must patiently wait the recurrence of a 

 like phenomenon, and diligently observe it. When he shall have thus collect- 

 ed all the circumstances that can be imagined to throw light on its origin, he 

 will then, and not until then, be in a condition to justify an inquiry into its 

 cause. 



Let us see, then, what circumstances attending the appearance of meteorites 

 past observation has supplied. 



It is agreed by all observers, in every part of the earth, that these meteors 

 manifest themselves by the appearance of a stream of light, passing with great 

 velocity through the firmament ; after which an explosion usually takes place, 

 so loud that windows and doors, and even buildings themselves, are some- 

 times shaken as if by an earthquake. 



The phenomenon is sometimes called ball-lightning, a term which is liable 

 to the objection that it implies an analogy, or identity of origin, between these 

 meteors and common lightning ; which not only is not proved, but is attended 

 with no probability. 



The luminous appearance and subsequent explosion attending these meteors 

 was long known ; the fact, however, that heavy substances, now called mete- 

 oric stones, were projected upon the surface of the earth at the same tine, was 

 not clearly proved or generally admitted until the present century. Abundant 

 evidence, however, has been supplied, by the vigilance and zeal of contempo- 

 raneous philosophers, of the reality of these deposites. Chladni, in his work 

 on this subject, has supplied an extensive chronological catalogue of the mete- 

 oric stones whose falls have been recorded in different parts of the earth, which 

 supplies examples of these phenomena occurring in various parts of the world 

 several times in each year of the present century. 



The fact, then, may be regarded as conclusively established, that masses of 

 stony matter, of various size and magnitude, and often of very considerable 

 weight, are frequently seen passing athwart the heavens, with great apparent 

 velocity, which are afterward precipitated upon the earth with extraordinary 

 force. 



The second circumstance I shall mention as worthy of attention is, that these 

 bodies rarely strike the surface of the earth in a direction either vertical or 

 nearly so. They generally, on the other hand, come in a direction very ob- 

 lique to the plane of the horizon. It may be asked, how the direction in which 

 they strike the earth can be ascertained unless they are seen, which rarely 

 happens at the moment of their fall. To this I answer, that their direction is 

 rendered manifest by the manner in which they penetrate the surface of the 

 ground which they always do, and to a depth more or less considerable. 



The velocity of their motion when they encounter the earth, is another cir- 

 cumstance of much importance. This velocity is discoverable by observa- 

 tion on their movement while visible, as well as by inferring the force with 

 which they struck the ground from the depth to which they penetrated. 



It is accordingly found by means of such observations, that the velocities of 

 these bodies belong to the kind of motions which characterize the bodies of 

 the solar system, and such as are never witnessed upon the surface of the earth. 

 They are velocities which could not be imagined to be imparted by the earth's 

 gravitation to any masses attracted from points within the limits of the atmo- 

 sphere. 



On examining the physical condition, and analyzing the constituents of the 



