108 Br. Walter Flight— On Meteorites. 



above the N.W. horizon : it became elongated and pear-shaped as it 

 traversed the heavens from W. to E., attaining an altitude of 50° 

 on passing the zenith, where the nucleus appeared to break up and 

 roll on in misshapen spheres of various sizes. On reaching a point 

 within 20° of the N.E. horizon, the light became more intense and 

 then the meteor disappeared. Eight or ten seconds later, reverbera- 

 tions as of thunder were distinctly heard. An eye-witness stationed 

 at Haddon thought he saw matter fall near him, and the next day, 

 found a lumjD of melted matter, light in weight and of a nearly 

 black colour, a portion being " a yellowish-brown substance like 

 cinders from iron-smelting," as well as two fragments that were 

 black, like coke, and a smaller fragment of a yellow hue. This 

 great meteor, of which an engraving is given in The Illustrated 

 Australian News, was, it appears, observed in several parts of the 

 country ; but no other accounts of it indicating either the extent or 

 position of its real course have yet been received. 



1875, August 16th (about noon). — Feid-Chair, Cercle de la Calle, 

 Constantino.^ 



This meteorite fell about midday at a spot named Feid-Chair, about 

 30 kilometres from La Calle, the descent being attended with the 

 accustomed luminous appearance. It weighs about 380 grammes ; 

 all search to discover other stones has proved of no avail. The 

 stone has a black crust and a grey interior, in which particles of 

 nickel-iron and troilite are imbedded. Spherules are recognized, but 

 the matrix likewise exhibits a brecciated structure ; grains of a dull 

 black hue are also distributed through the mass. The siliceous por- 

 tion acts on polarized light. The enclosed crystals are too small to 

 allow of their form being recognized. This portion of the stone is 

 acted upon by acid, and appears to consist of a mixture of olivine 

 and enstatite. The Feid-Chair meteorite closely resembles the 

 stones which fell at La Baffe, Dep. des Vosges (1822, September 13th), 

 Heredia, Costa Eica (1857, April 1st), Canellas, near Barcelona 

 (1861, May 14th), and Khetree, Piajpootana, India (1867, January 

 19th). This is the third occasion within the space of twelve years 

 that meteorites have been seen to fall in Algiers and have been pre- 

 served. 



1875, September 14:th, 4 p.m. — Supino, circ. Frosinone, Eome. 



The asserted fall of an aerolite on this date, recorded in former 

 Images, and again as an authentic stonefall in the " Monthly Notices 

 of the Royal Astronomical Society" (vol. xxxvii. pp. 205-6), is 

 entirely refuted by a letter from Padre Secchi, in the latter volume 

 of the " Monthly Notices" (p. 365), in which the real circumstances 

 of the supposed meteor and stonefall are related and described. A 

 flash of lightning which occurred in the public square of Supino 

 struck a neighbouring house with sufficient violence to dislodge a 

 stone from the roof, without doing any more material damage to 



^ G. A. Daubree, Compt rend. 1877, Ixxxiv. 70. 



