Miscellanies. A407 
feet seven inches beyond this by boring. It passed through clays in 
some parts containing selenite, and at bottom reached a coarse sand 
from which the gas was derived resting upon a rock, probably sand- 
stone. Upon striking into the sand, the carburetted hydrogen gas rush- 
ed up by the sides of the augur rod with a shrill whistling noise, upon 
which the workmen left the well and withdrew the drill. They expe- 
rienced no difficulty in breathing, and can now descend into the pit 
without inconvenience. One of the workmen, thinking it might be in- 
flammable gas, lighted a lamp with the design of lowering it, but did 
not have the opportunity ; for no sooner had the match’ been kindled, 
than the whole took fire and blazed up to the height of twenty feet, 
with an explosion that was heard to the distance of three quarters of a 
mile. Two individuals were scorched and somewhat injured by the 
explosion. After- the first explosion the gas continued to burn at the 
bottom of the pit for twelve days before it was extinguished. Since 
this occurrence, which happened on the 17th of July, the gas has con- 
tinued to issue without abatement, and is frequently set on fire for the 
amusement of visitors. 
The sound of the gas as it issues from the drilled hole resembles the 
noise of water boiling in a steam engine, and the quantity discharged 
is sufficient to heat a small steam boiler. Seven years ago the gas from 
a spring in the vicinity accidentally took fire and burned three or four 
days. Inthe summer of 1842, a well was dug in Wethersfield (sixteen 
miles from the well I have described) to the depth of fifty feet, when car- 
buretted hydrogen wasalso found. A laborer in attempting to descend 
with a lamp in the evening for his tools was killed by the explosion. 
38. Particulars of the fall of Meteorites in the Sandwich Islands ; 
communicated by request, by the Rev. Hiram Bincuam, missionary in 
those Islands, in a letter dated Boston, May 1, 1845. 
To Prof. Silliman—On the 27th of September, 1825, a shower of 
meteoric stones fell, partly in the channel between Molokai and Lanai, 
and partly between those islands and Oahu, and partly at Honolulu, 
where I then resided. One explosion was heard at Lahaina, and seve- 
ral in quick succession at Honolulu, eighty miles to the northwest, be- 
tween the hours of 10 and 11, A. M. The fragment that was seen to 
pass Lahaina towards Oahu fell in the Molokai Channel, and threw a 
mass of water into the air, and was said to be followed by a rumbling 
sound. 
The Rev. Mr. Richards of Lahaina mistook the report of the explo- 
sion for that of cannon on board of some ship. ‘The explosions which I 
heard at Honolulu led me at first to suppose they were cannon on 
board of ships not far distant. But soon after I was satisfied that they 
