J. H. Collins — Cornish 8erpentinous Rocks. 359 



details from some of those who had been witnesses of the pheno- 

 menon, of which one was a carman, a shepherd, and many others 

 who saw the stones fall close to them. He concluded at last all his 

 researches by saying that on the 23rd of November, 1810, at ten 

 minutes past one p.m. there fell three stones in the parish of Charson- 

 ville, Canton of Meung, Department of Loiret. Their fall was 

 accompanied by a series of thunderings which lasted several minutes. 

 The stones fell on a space of ground of about half a league, and 

 their fall was perpendicular. The inhabitants perceived neither light 

 nor globe of fire, either immediately above Charsonville, nor in the 

 neighbourhood. One of the stones fell near Mortelle, and was not 

 found ; x the two others fell at Villeray and at Moulin-brule ; of 

 these two, one weighed about 20 lbs. and had been found in a hole 

 just large enough to hold it, and about two feet in depth and one 

 foot in calcareous tuff; this hole was vertical, and the stone was 

 removed about half an hour after it fell, being tben hot enough to 

 cause considerable discomfort to those who held it in their hands. 

 The second stone had made a similar hole in the ground, and had 

 penetrated three feet in depth ; its weight before being broken was 

 40 lbs. It was taken up about eighteen hours after its fall. It seems 

 certain that the smaller stone, while still warm, emitted a strong 

 odour of gunpowder, and that it retained it even in the house to 

 which it was taken, until it was quite cold." 



At page 250 he continues : " One can see in No. 862 of the 

 'British Library,' published in January, 1811, an account of the 

 same phenomenon, which was extracted from a letter which Madame 

 de La Touanne had written to her mother, and of which some copies 

 had been by chance circulated through Orleans." 



In conclusion I think from this account that it may be taken for 

 a fact that the Charsonville and the Bois de Fontaine meteorites are 

 certainly of the same fall, though there is a probability of the Bois 

 de Fontaine stone being the one that at the time of the fall was not 

 found, and which was described as having fallen at Mortelle by M. 

 de La Touanne. It would, therefore, be interesting to know if 

 those museums and collections possessing specimens of both these 

 stones would carefully compare them in order to ascertain if any 

 similarity exists in their specimens, which might help to prove 

 the identity, and of which myself I have little doubt. 



VII. — On the Geological History of the Cornish Serpentinous 



Bocks. 



By J. H. Collins, F.G.S. 



(Continued from Vol. II. p. 298.) 



MY argument that at Porthalla there is a " passage " from horn- 

 blende-schist to serpentine ; or rather that some beds of a 

 common series have been changed into serpentine, others into horn- 

 blende-schist, and others again into a substance of intermediate 

 character, is, I think, much strengthened by the fact that many such 

 " apparent passages " are admitted to exist by all those who have 

 1 Query, "Was this the stone known as the Bois de Fontaine ? — J. E. G. 



