OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 251 



placo the second explosion appears to have taken place, and some fragments 

 were carried farther northward. 



Six fragments of the meteorite, weighing collectively 3-398 kilogs., have 

 been found : — No. 1, weighing 4| grammes, fell with a hissing noise near a 

 peasant at Gerano ; No. 2, weighing 92 grammes, foil at La Scarpa, Avithin 

 ten metres of a farmer, who picked it up while hot ; No. 3, weighing 

 622 grammes, was found two or three days after the fall a few centimetres 

 below the surface, in a stubblod field at Pezza del Meleto, between Orvinio 

 and Pozzaglia ; No. 4, 1242-5 grammes in weight, was found a week after 

 the fall, close to Orvinio : the grass around it had been somewhat singed ; 

 No. 5, weighing 432 grammes, was picked up a week after the full at 

 Pezza del Moleto ; No. G, weighing 1003 grammes, was found on the 8th 

 of May, 200 metres distant from No. 4, at a very trifling depth, while 

 turning up the soil of a field. 



At the time of the fall a man was passing the spot where fragments num- 

 bered 4 and 6 wore found. Immediately after the explosion, he heard the 

 sound of a heavy body striking the earth, and he fell on the ground with fear. 

 At the same time, or a little later, a fire broke out in a barn filled with hay 

 in the village of Affile, and the occurrence was, with general consent, ascribed 

 to the meteorite. 



In September 1873 Keller learnt that two more small fragments had fallen 

 near the village of Anticoli Corradi. The one fell near two boys who were 

 tending cattle. They became alarmed at the hissing noise, and believing this 

 projectile to be aimed by the devil, they picked it up, and threw it far away 

 from them. The other stone was observed to fall on the bare rock, and to 

 break in pieces. The fragments were collected ; but as they were held to be 

 of no value, they were subsequently lost. In the case of this aerolite, as in 

 that of others, the smaller appear to have fallen before the larger fragments. 



The velocity of this fall must have been very slow. The authors do not 

 state whether any of the fragments could be fitted together ; their specific 

 gravity ranged between 3-58 and 3*73 — in one, richer in metallic constituents, 

 it amounted to 4-598. Two of the fragments bear portions of the crust lying 

 in pits and hollows. It is only | milhm. thick, has a pitch-black colour, and 

 exhibits in some places a waxy lustre. The mass of the stone is of a lead- 

 grey colour, being darker than that of the aerolites of Pultusk and Monte 

 Milone. A polished surface exhibits metallic grains, some 2 millims. in dia- 

 meter, and a green silicate, probably oli-sine. The ground-mass appears to be 

 made up of two minerals, one clear and uniform, the other dull and less 

 homogeneous. The stone acts powerfully on the magnet. 



In Ferrari's memoir is given a plan of the country near Rome, on which 

 is indicated the track of the meteor and the positions where the stones fell. 

 The line of flight, a singularly devious one, is seen to pass immediately over 

 the summits of M. Leano, M. Sempreviso, M. Lapone, and quite near to that 

 of M. Geunaro, the chief mountains of the district, and suggests (although 

 obviously only by appearance) the gravitating action of these more elevated 

 masses of the earth's surface on the path of the meteor. A sketch of the 

 latter, the trajectory of which is computed to have been inclined 27° to the 

 plane of the horizon, accompanies the map. 



The paper of M. Lc Chevahor Michel-Etienne do Rossi gives the aiialysis 

 and observations of Prof. BeUucci, of Perugia. "When heated to 120° the 

 powdered mineral lost 1-875 per cent., and by treatment with water a httle 

 potassium and sodium chloride were dissolved. (Compare with Daubrc'e's 

 examination of the Lance stone.) The magnet removed 29-04 per cent., 



