An Account of the Meteorite of Castine, 1 aine. 
! Arr. XX VIE—An Account of the Meteorite of Castine, Maing, 
May 20, 1848; by ve.teee Upuam Sueparp, M.D. 
rs, and description of the lately 
fallen meteoric stone in J] the absence of fuller accounts, 
will no doubt prove interes eteorologists. 
The only stone thus far found, together with the principal facts 
in the case, fell into the hands of Prof. P. Cleaveland of Bowdoin 
College, from whose letter (of August 5th) it seems proper to 
make the following quotation as my apology for not leaving this 
communication to be made by himself. “I have written to Cas- 
tine, proposing certain qtieries, with a view of ‘obtaining more 
facts. When I receive them, I will prepare a notice, if in season 
for the next number of the Journal. The notice ought to appear 
in the next number, and as you have all the facts which I now 
possess, if you hear nothing from me before the printing of the 
last pages, you had better put the facts in due form, and insert the 
notice yourself.” 
On observing a paragraph in a newspaper respecting the fall of 
a meteoric stone in Maine, I addressed a letter to my friend, Rev. 
Ray Palmer, of Bath, (Me. ,) requesting his aid in procuring a re- | 
liable account of the occurrence. * This drew forth ie conten, 
excellent description from Rev. Daniel Sewall, of C. 
letter dated June 12th, to Mr. Palmer. ‘I receiv d your 
_ Friday evening, and on the day following, I rode out to t 
“i (which is one mile distant) where the stone fell. I made 
inquiries and search | could, but without being able to rocure 
eee sa only stone that has been found as yet, Nad now in 
the sion of Prof. Cleaveland of Brunswiek. Mr. Lemuel 
Tue following abstract 
Ia, 
& 
Ashettju cal ember of College from Bowdoin, took it withthe 
thither a few days since. I saw the ston e, the morn ing it ah 
picked up. It was not larger than a hen’s egg. 
“The appearance of the meteor and the ocuerk circumstan- 
ces, so far as I have been able to-gather them, may be described 
follows: On Saturday morning, May 20th, sncn half past four 
in the morning, Mr, Charles Blaisdell, a mechanic; whe lives about 
a mile from the village, being out of the house at the time, no- 
ticed dark clouds, apparently gathering from oe quarters of 
the heavens. Soon, he*saw what he supposed to be a flash of 
lightning. Presently, however, upon ‘looking at that portion of 
the cloud which came.from the northwest, he saw what appeared 
like the moon in a cloudy net as at the horizon, but when high in 
the heavens. Ar sudden, sharp report like a cannost was heard, 
followed by a quick succession of repofts not so loud as the first, 
but which resembled 4 running fire of musketry ; and after these 
a whistling sound if the air, as of a body passing through it with 
