134 SCENERY OF THE HEAVENS. 



minutes after, there fell stones from heaven ; but fortunately there fell only a very few, 

 and they fell about ten paces from one another in some places, and in others nearer, and 

 finally, in some other places farther ; and falling, most of them, of the weight of about 

 half a quarter of a pound each, some others of about half a pound, like that found in our 

 parish of La Grange ; and on the borders of the parish of Creon, they were found of a 

 pound weight ; and in falling, they seemed not to be inflamed, but very hard and black 

 without, and within of the colour of steel : and, thank God, they occasioned no harm to 

 the people, nor to the trees, but only to some tiles which were broken on the houses ; and 

 most of them fell gently, and others fell quickly with a hissing noise ; and some were 

 found which had entered into the earth, but very few. In witness whereof, we have written 

 and signed these presents. Duby, mayor. Darmite." Though such a document as this, 

 coming from the unlearned of the district where the phenomenon occurred, was not cal- 

 culated to win acceptance with the savans of the French capital ; yet it was corroborated 

 by a host of intelligent witnesses at Bayonne, Thoulouse, and Bordeaux, and by trans- 

 mitted specimens containing the substances usually found in atmospheric stones, and in 

 nearly the same proportions. A few years afterwards, an undoubted instance of the fall 

 of an aerolite occurred in our own country, which largely excited public curiosity. This 

 was in the neighbourhood of Wold Cottage, the house of Captain Topham, in Yorkshire. 

 Several persons heard the report of an explosion in the air, followed by a hissing sound ; 

 and afterwards felt a shock, as if a heavy body had fallen to the ground at a little distance 

 from them. One of these, a ploughman, saw a huge stone falling towards the earth, eight 

 or nine yards from the place where he stood. It threw up the mould on every side, and 

 after penetrating through the soil, lodged some inches deep in solid chalk rock. Upon 

 being raised, the stone was found to weigh fifty-six pounds. It fell in the afternoon of a 

 mild but hazy day, during which there was no thunder or lightning ; and the noise of the 

 explosion was heard through a considerable district. It deserves remark, that in most 

 recorded cases of the descent of projectiles, the weather has been settled and the sky 

 clear ; a fact which plainly places them apart from the causes which operate to produce 

 the tempest, and shows the popular term thunderbolt to be an entire misnomer. 



While this train of circumstances was preparing the philosophic mind of Europe to 

 admit as a truth what had hitherto been deemed a vulgar error, and acknowledge the ap- 

 pearance of masses of ignited matter in the atmosphere occasionally descending to the 

 earth, an account of a phenomenon of this kind was received from India, vouched by an 

 authority calculated to secure it general respect. It came from Mr. Williams, F.R.S., a 

 resident in Bengal. It stated that on December 19th, 1798, at eight o'clock in the 

 evening, a large luminous meteor was seen at Benares and other parts of the country. It 

 was attended with a loud rumbling noise, like an ill-discharged platoon of musketry ; and 

 about the same time, the inhabitants of Krakhut, fourteen miles from Benares, saw the 

 light, heard an explosion, and immediately after the noise of heavy bodies falling in the 

 neighbourhood. The sky had previously been serene, and not the smallest vestige of a 

 cloud had appeared for many days. Next morning, the mould in the fields was found to 

 have been turned up in many spots ; and unusual stones of various sizes, but of the same 

 substance, were picked out from the moist soil, generally from a depth of six inches. As 

 the occurrence took place in the night, after the people had retired to rest, the explosion 

 and the actual fall of the stones were not observed: but the watchman of an English 

 gentleman, near Krakhut, brought him a stone the next morning which had fallen through 

 the top of his hut, and buried itself in the earthen floor. This event in India was fol*- 

 lowed in the year 1803 by a convincing demonstration in France, which compelled the 

 eminent men of the capital to believe, though much against their will. On Tuesday, 

 April 26th> about one in the afternoon, the weather being serene, there was observed, in 



