388 REPORT—1868. 
which the stone was fractured by the fall are placed in the Geological Museum 
at Vienna, together with a number of smaller aérolites of the same fall, some 
of which are perfect specimens of the stones. 
Up to the 24th of September, 1866, fragments of which the following are 
the numbers and weights (Austrian) had been collected on the site of the fall: — 
lbs. 
MPinAOTNE LAW ye aie ass Rene 5G vue Cenex <2 Selene 550 
5 fragments, of 733, 30, 17, 14, 6 Ibs., together ........ 1403 
20 re of between 2lbs. and4lbs. ,, ........ 60 
50 or 60 ,, of smaller weights ns aga is ae 100 
Total, about 80 fragments, weighing .......... 8503 
Dr. Haidinger estimates that, on a moderate allowance for those which 
fell undiscovered, at least 1000 aérolites fell, and that the whole mass must 
have weighed not less than 8 or 10 cwts. 
2. Pultusk, Poland, 1868, Jan. 30, 6" 50™ p.m. (local time). 
Report of Dr. J. G. Galle on the fall, and on the meteor’s path in space 
(Abhandlung der schlesischen Gesellschaft fiir vaterl. Cultur, March 4, 1868). 
—aA great shower of aérolites took place near Pultusk, 25 miles N. from 
Warsaw, over a space four and a half miles in length, from Obryte (E. long. 
20° 47', N. lat. 52° 42’) to Siele (KE. long. 20° 38’ 30", N. lat. 52° 47'), in a 
direction from $.8.W. to N.N.E., and only one mile in breadth. The largest 
aérolite, weighing 10 Ibs., was found at Makoff, the extreme N.N.E. point of 
the space of fall. Those found at Siele weighed between 3 lbs. and 4 lbs. ; 
and the remaining stones, becoming gradually less towards the 8.8.W., 
weighed on the average 2 lbs., 11b., and 3 lb., as far as Obryte, where aéro- 
lites of the smallest size only fell, of weights not exceeding } 1b. The direc- 
tion and manner of their distribution, it will be seen shortly, coincides nearly, 
but not quite, with the direction of the meteor’s course. The stones are 
shaped like splintered fragments of a larger mass, rounded at the edges and 
coated over with a dull, brown or black crust, glittermg here and there with 
grains of metallic iron. In the interior of one perfect aérolite was found a 
solid piece of metallic iron of the size of a cubic inch. 
‘Ten seconds before the heavy report which accompanied the stonefall at 
Sielc, and 33 minutes before the sound of the report was heard at Warsaw, 
an intensely brilliant fireball exploded over the neighbourhood, with such 
dazzling brightness that it was seen as far as Miillrose (230 B. 8. miles), and 
at Frankfort on the Oder (415 miles from the place of fall). Although the sky 
was overcast, and even the moon’s light was darkened by a snowfall, the illu- 
minating power of the meteor at the latter place was so intense that the light 
of the gas-lamps in the streets was overpowered. At Weringerode, on the 
Harz Mountains (also 415 miles from the place of fall), the windows and the 
outline of a house a mile off could be plainly distinguished by its light, which 
lasted five seconds, although the meteor there shone at a very small altitude 
above the horizon. ‘The meteor appeared first as a small shooting-star, gra- 
dually increasing in splendour and changing from a star to a conical form, 
scattering sparks, and leaving a train of carmine colour on its course, until, 
from a bluish bolide of ordinary appearance, it became a well-defined fireball 
of red colour, and burst into a shower of sparks, which descended vertically 
over Sielc. 
Dr. Galle estimates the height of the explosion at 25 miles above the earth ; 
