Transactions of the Geological Society of France. 289 
ishes with the mean temperature of localities, allowance being made 
for the considerable influence of the direction of the winds. 
3. The formation of aerolites in a cloud, having their coloris anal- 
ogous to that of rain; as it rains with a clear sky, so in the same 
manner aerolites descend unattended with the appearance of clouds. 
4, The luminous appearance and the noise resembling thunder, 
are produced by electricity, which appear in all atmospheric phe- 
nomena. ‘The different colors of fire balls, during their descent, are 
the effect of the disengagement of different kinds of electricity. 
It is very likely that aerolites may fall without being preceded by fire 
balls, as it rains very powerfully without lightning, when the tempera- 
ture of the eriform column is below the point of thawing. 
5. Aerolites sometimes fall without noise, because the electric ex- 
plosion has taken place in very elevated regions ; there are analogous 
cases of lightning at the zenith without thunder. 
The author therefore regards the formation of aerolites in the at- 
mosphere as the most plausible theory, and recurs to the ideas ex- 
pressed by Aristotle and Seneca, two thousand years ago: ‘Varia et 
multa terrarum orbis exspirat, quedam humida, quedam sicca, que- 
dam aleentia, quedam concipiendis ignibus idonea. Nec mirum est, 
si terre et omnis generis evaporatio est.” 
Not satisfied with these observations, M. Ipeier adds others, in 
support of this theory. Thus, he quotes certain hail storms, in 
which the hail stones possessed a metallic nucleus resembling aero- 
lites; and remarks that the appearance of fire balls and of aerolites 
is preceded by more or less distinct glimmerings (/ueurs) of light, 
and that the phenomena in question is connected with atmospheric 
changes, and these again with revolutions which take place within 
the interior of the earth. ‘The simultaneous fall of meteoric stones 
in different countries is also in favor of their atmospheric origin, and 
it often takes place during storms. 
M. F. G. Fisuer has published in the memoirs of the Academy 
of Berlin, a memoir upon the origin of aerolites, in which he adopts 
the foregoing ideas, and supposes that electricity performs an impor-_ 
tant part in the phenomenon. 
Concerning the shooting stars, M. Inever endeavors to prove by 
facts that they are merely precipitations of animal and vegetable mat- 
ters disseminated through the atmosphere. 
Finally, with respect to the Aurora borealis, he supposes that the 
precipitation formed by the dry vapors in the elevated portions of 
Vor. XXVIITI.—No. 2. 37 
. 
yes: by 
