220 COSMOS. 



nied by phenomena of sound, though without light ; finally, 

 and, indeed, the most frequently, the falls of meteoric stones 

 present themselves in close connection with brilliant fire 

 balls. Of this connection, the falls of stones at Barbotan 

 (Dep. des Landes) on the 24th of July, 1790, with a simul- 

 taneous appearance of a red fire-ball and a ichite meteoric 

 cloud,* from which the aerolites fell ; the fall of stones at 

 Benares, in Hindostan, 13th December^ 1798, and that of 

 Aigle (Dep. de L'Orne) on the 26th of April, 1803, aflbrd 

 v/ell-described and indubitable examples. The last of the 

 phenomena here mentioned — that which among all has been 

 investigated and described with the greatest care by Biot — 

 has finally, 23 centuries after the great Thracian fall of stones, 

 and 300 years since a Frate was killed by an aerolite at C re- 

 ma,! put an end to the skepticism of the academists. A 



* Kanitz, Lehrhnch der Meteorologie, vol. iii., p. 277. 



t The great fall of aerolites at Creraa and on the shores of Adda is 

 described with especial vivacity, but unfortunately in a rhetorical and 

 vague manner, by the celebrated Petrus Martyr, of Anghiera {^Opus 

 Episiolarum, Amst., 1670, No. cccclxv., p. 245-246). What preceded 

 the fall itself was an almost total dai-kening on the 4th of September, 

 1511, at the noon hour. " Fama est, pavonem immensum in aCrea Cre- 

 mensi plaga fuisse visum. Tavo visus in pyramidem converti, adeoquo 

 celei-i ab occidente in orientera raptari cursu, ut in hora) momento 

 magnam hemisphserii partem, doctorum inspectantium sententia, per- 

 volagse credatur. Ex nubium illico densitate tenebras ferunt surrex- 

 'sse, quales viventium nulhis unquam se cognovisse fateatur. Per earn 

 aoctis faciem, cum formidolosis fulguribus, inaudita tonitrua regionem 

 --ircumsepserunt." " The report is, that an enormous peacock was seen 

 flying in the sky above the town of Crema. The peacock appeared to 

 change into a pyramid, and was carried from west to east with such 

 rapidity, that in a moment it seemed to ti*averse the whole hemisphere, 

 as some learned men imagined who saw it. Immediately afterward 

 such darkness arose from the denseness of the clouds as was never 

 known by mortal before. During this midnight gloom, unheard-of 

 thunders, mingled with awful lightnings, resounded through that quar- 

 ter of the heavens." . The illuminations were so intense, that the in- 

 habitants round Bergamo could see the whole plain of Crema during 

 the darkness. " Ex hori'endo illo fragore quid irata natura in eam re- 

 gionem pepererit, percunctaberis. Saxa demisit in Cremensi planitie 

 (ubi nullus unquam a^quans ovum lapis visus fuit) immensa; magnitu 

 dini, pendens egregii. Decem fuisse reperta centilibralia sexa ferunt." 

 •'You will perhaps inquire what accompanied that terrific commotion 

 of nature. On the plain of Crema, where never before was seen a stone 

 the size of an e^^, there fell pieces of rock of enormous dimensions and 

 of immense weight. It is said that ten of these were found weighing 

 a hundred pounds each. Birds, sheep, and even fish were killed." 

 Under all these exaggerations, it may still bo seen that the meteoru. 

 el&ud out of which the stones fell must have been of uncommon black 

 ue8s and thickues.=; Tlie " pavo" was undoubtedly a long and broad 



