Dr. Walter Flight — History of Meteorites. 259 



the position of two points along its course. It was observed in 

 Saxony, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Pornerania, West 

 Prussia, and in many parts of Austria as far as Hungary ; and the 

 report of the explosion was heard in the Hirschberger Thai and 

 along the Eiesengebirge range. The explosion appears to have 

 taken place near the Bohemian frontier, at a height of about 4^ 

 geographical miles, nearly over Grosschonau in Saxony and 

 Warnsdorf in Bohemia, the altitude being nearly the same as that 

 at which the cosmical path of the meteorites of Pultusk (1868, 

 January 30th) is believed by Galle to have terminated. 1 According 

 to Niessl, it was seen nearly vertical over the village of Herrnhut in 

 Saxony at the time of its dissolution. The general course of the 

 meteor was from S.S.E. to N.N.W. 



Although it does not appear that any fragments of a meteorite are 

 known to have descended in the neighbourhood of Herrnhut, some 

 information was gathered by Prof. Hornstein, of Prague, respecting 

 a very remarkable form of matter which is stated to have fallen 

 at the time of the flight of the meteor. According to an account 

 communicated to the Reichenberger Zeitung by the Head Master of the 

 School at Proschwitz, the meteor was seen to explode in the zenith 

 at the time stated, and some of the burning fragments of the 

 meteor fell in that village, one of them on the high road not far 

 from him. It was of about the size of a fist, and continued to burn, 

 emitting a blue light and an odour like that of sulphur, until the 

 flame was extinguished by the villagers stamping it out with their 

 feet. This rough treatment reduced the mass to small pieces, which, 

 mixed with sand and dust, had the appearance of a slag, and were 

 not larger in size than a pea. A stone, a fragment of porphyry, 

 which happened to be selected by one of the bystanders to extinguish 

 the flame, together with some of the above-mentioned fragments, was 

 examined by Websky and Poleck, by whom the substance was 

 pronounced to be pure sulphur. 



If this burning mass actually traversed our atmosphere, the oc- 

 currence is of peculiar interest, as being one of the very few 

 instances where sulphur in the separate elementary condition has 

 been found as a meteoric substance. Chladni, in his Feuer- Meteor e, 3 

 refers to a statement in the Theatrum Europium, vol. iv. p. 399, 

 that in June, 1642 (?), sulphur fell at Magdeburg, and at Lohburg 

 four miles distant ; one mass, the size of a fist, striking the roof 

 of the castle. Galle, in his memoir Ueber den gegeniodrtigen 

 Stand der TJntersuchungen ueber die gelatinosen sogenannten Stern- 

 schnuppen- Substanzen, published in the year 1S69, cites a paper by 

 von Hoff, 3 describing a substance which was found on the 6th 

 September, 1835, between Friemar and Gotha during a star- 

 shower. It smelt like liver of sulphur, and when held in the 

 hand melted to a thick liquid, which evaporated, diffusing a strong 

 odour like that of burning sulphur and phosphorus. Another sub- 



1 J. G. Galle. Naturw. Abh. zu den Schriften der Schles. Geselh, 1868, 79. 



2 E. F. F. Chladni. Ueber Feuer- Meteor e. Vienna, 1819. Page 367. 



3 K. E. A. von Hoff.. Fogg. Ann., xxxvi. 315 ; FLandw. der Chem., v. 224. 



