Miscellanies. 389 



" No one can tell from what direction the meteor came. — ■ 

 The first thing noticed was the report, like that of a large piece of 

 ordnance ; some say the principal explosion was succeeded by a 

 number of lesser ones in quick succession, similar to the explosions 

 of a cracker : one has told me the secondary noise was only a re- 

 verberation. Very soon after the explosion, some black people 

 heard a whizzing noise, and on looking saw a faint ' smoke ^ descend 

 to the ground ; at which time they heard the noise produced by the 

 fall of the stone : they ran to the spot, for they saw where it fell, and 

 discovered the hole it had made in the ground, being more than two 

 feet in a hard clay soil : the negroes, and others who went early to the 

 spot, say they perceived a sulphureous smell. The stone weighed 

 thirty-six pounds : it fell at a small angle with the horizon." 



Remarks.— }ia.v'mg received the specimeris, just as this number of 

 the Journal is about being finished, I can add only the following no- 

 tice : The color of the interior of the stone is a light ash-gray, and 

 very uniform, except that it is sprinkled throughout with thousands of 

 brilliant points of metallic iron, having very nearly the color and lus- 

 tre of polished silver. The iron is rarely in points larger than a small 

 pin's head, but the points are so numerous that nearly the whole of 

 the powder of the stone is taken up by the magnet, even when it is in 

 fine dust, and by a magnifier the little points of iron can even then 

 be seen standing out from the magnet. It greatly resembles the Ten- 

 nessee meteorite. 



It has the usual black crust on certain parts, and this, although re- 

 sembling a semi-fused substance, exhibits bright metallic points when 

 a file is drawn across it. A similar black crust is seen pervading 

 the stone in some places, through its interior, and forming where it 

 is seen in a cross fracture, black lines or veins. The stone is full of 

 semi-fused black points and ridges similar to the crust, and its entire 

 mass seems half vitrified in points, so as to resemble an imperfect glass. 

 The specific gravity as ascertained by Mr. Shepard, is 3.37. 



27. Dr. Comstock^s Natural History of Birds. — This entertain- 

 ing little work, of two hundred and sixteen pages, large duodecimo, 

 is pleasingly illustrated by a quarto arias of colored figures, designed 

 with all requisite skill, and proportioned to the life size. This is the 

 second volume of a series which the author designs to execute for the 

 use of children, and of which the first was devoted to quadrupeds. 

 The books are so attractive that they cannot fail of being read, and 



