Miscellanies. 395 



I thought it better, although nothing scientific, as there are no 

 instrumental details in this slight notice, not to lose it altogether and 

 therefore send it to you as it is, with " all its imperfections on its 

 head," as from a variety of even such slight and informal observa- 

 tions there would be "much matter to be learned," particularly as I 

 do not consider the almost stationary column of white light first ap- 

 pearing in the east, before the aurora began, as being of an auroral 

 character, its motion, its peculiar wild and steady lustre and the 

 uniform breadth which it preserved from the horizon to the zenith, 

 distinguishing it from the fanciful and shooting flashes of the auroral 

 columns. 



15. Meteorite. — A notice in the Boston Daily Advertiser of June 

 10, 1837, states that a meteoric stone is reported to have fallen be- 

 tween three and four P. M. May 5, at East Bridgewater, (Mass.) 

 The only witness was a lad of 15 3'ears of age, who was alarmed by 

 what he supposed to be a stroke of lightning in a neighboring field. 

 Being at play with considerable noise, he did not observe any report, 

 but thought there was scintillation and that the meteor might have 

 burst before it reached the earth, which is said to have been some- 

 what torn up, and several pieces of the stone were found yet sensibly 

 warm, and were seen and examined by several persons. Nine pie- 

 ces of the stone were obtained, weighing in the whole half a pound, 

 and the largest piece a quarter of a pound ; four other pieces were 

 afterwards found in such a position as to indicate that they may have 

 been separated before the meteor reached the ground. 



The whole stone appears vitrified as if from rapid cooling. The 

 outside is black, glazed and shining, but within it is gray and full of 

 oval shaped cavities. It is attracted by the magnet and resembles 

 the lava or the scoria of a furnace, which latter substance the writer 

 of the notice would have taken it for, had it not been reported to be 

 warm when taken up. The sp. gr. of four fragments weighing res- 

 pectively 85.50, 73.52, 43.30, and 28.75 grains, was found to be 

 2.611, 2.083, 1.728, and 2.815, mean 2.159. 



We have thought it right to preserve this notice, although we have 

 not seen any specimen of the stone. 'The specific gravity being 

 less than that of common stones, and not much more than half of the 

 usual weight of meteorites, while the substance is still attractable by 

 the magnet, must of course imply a considerable degree of inflation 

 and of course a violent and legible effect of heat. — Ed. Am. Jour. 



