196 METEORIC STONES IN INDIA. 



moment before, in a state of ignition, is very remarkable ; each stone 

 that fell bore unmistakeable marks of partial fusion. 



11. The morning and afternoon preceding the occurrence had been 

 particularly dull and cloudy. The temperature was close, sultry, and 

 oppressive. The Thermometer was above 80 degrees of Fahrenheit, 

 and no rain had fallen. I had no Barometer by me at the time, I 

 am therefore unable to state what was the precise pressure of the 

 atmosphere. The clouds which were of the form technically called 

 cumulus and cirrus were hanging low at the time, and the atmosphere 

 was heavily charged with electricity. 



12. Such are simply the facts of the case as they occurred. 



13. There are of course all sorts of conjectures as to the probable 

 cause of the occurrence : some state the stones to be of volcanic 

 origin, others that they were hurled from the heights about the Station, 

 or projected from the moon, but I am inclined to regard them as 

 real honafide Meteorolites. Their weight seems to indicate that they 

 are semi-metallic substances, composed probably of Meteoric iron 

 alloyed with nickel, and mixed with silica and magnesia, or some 

 other earthy substance. They are nearly double the weight of a 

 piece of ordinary stone of similar dimensions. 



14. Such a phenomenon is not without precedent. It is on record 

 that in Siberia a mass of iron once fell weighing 1,680 lbs., and in 

 Brazil another weighing 14,000 lbs. In Peru a piece fell weighing 15 

 tons, and it is said that some knives of iron alloyed with nickel were 

 found by Officers connected with the Arctic expedition among the 

 Esquimaux in Greenland, which must have been made of metal 

 taken from Meteoric masses, for these two metals are not found 

 together as a mineral product anywhere. 



15. I have sent specimens of the Aerolite to the Museums at 

 Lahore and Umritsur, and to Scientific institutions in America. I am 

 about also to send others to the Academy of Sciences in France, to 

 the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, and to Monsr. H. Schlagentweit at 

 Berlin in Prussia, for examination and report. 



16. One fact if true is curious, viz., that the report preceded the 

 flash instead of followed it ; this I cannot at all account for. 



17. The common theory with regard to such phenomena is that 

 they are fragments of some planetary body of our system which has 

 been destroyed, and these portions as projected into space, have acci- 



