226 David Forbes — On Meteorites. 



1768, the tliree stones, or rather fragments of only one aerolite, 

 notwithstanding their being found at three places so distant from 

 one another as to form a triangle of 180 miles on each side, were 

 sent to Paris for the consideration of the Koyal Academy ; but the 

 subject was not considered by that learned body as worthy of their 

 attention. 



The arrival in 1777, in St. Petersburg, of the great mass of 

 meteoric iron, weighing some 1500 lbs., discovered by the Naturalist 

 Pallas, in Siberia, gave rise to many speculations as to its origin, and 

 ultimately to Chladni's memoir (Eiga, 1794), which at first was re- 

 ceived almost with derision, the idea of this mass having fallen from 

 the heavens, which he maintained, being literally laughed at. The 

 heavens, however, may be said to have come to his aid, for it was only 

 about two months after the publication of his work that a shower of 

 aerolites occurred at Sienna, in Tuscany, nineteen of which were 

 secured, one of them having cut through the hat of a boy, severely 

 wounding him ; and in the following year a meteoric stone (sub- 

 sequently obtained by the British Museum), weighing 56 lbs., fell 

 at Wold, in Yorkshire. Sir Joseph Banks, then President of the 

 Eoyal Society, called attention in the same year to the similarity of 

 this aerolite with a specimen of those from Sienna which he had 

 recently received ; and later, in 1799, did the same with regard to 

 another, which had broken through the roof of a house at Benares, 

 in Hindostan, subsequently analyzed by Howard. The French men 

 of science, ho wever, were not to be convinced as yet ; for even as late 

 as 1803, M. De Luc wrote derisively, "I believe, since you declare you 

 have seen it, but I would not believe had I seen it myself." On the 

 26th April, this same year, however, at 1 p.m., and under a clear 

 sky, there fell at L'Aigle in Normandy, a shower of aerolites esti- 

 mated to exceed 3000 in number, of all sizes, from i of an ounce to 

 17 lbs. in weight, causing such consternation that the Government 

 despatched the celebrated Biot to report on the circumstances, the 

 results of which — in conjunction with the analyses made by the 

 chemists Vauquelin and Thenard, who found them to have the same 

 chemical composition as the meteorite from Benares, previously 

 analyzed by Howard — were so conclusive as to set all questions at 

 rest for the future, even in France, as to the possibility of stones 

 actually falling from heaven, and to cause the translation of Chladni's 

 memoir into French. 



The study of meteoric phenomena henceforth assumed an im- 

 portance not previously attached to it. The appearance and attendant 

 phenomena of meteoric falls were now registered, and the stones 

 ' themselves carefully preserved and examined; and it may be men- 

 tioned that at least one, if not more, of the meteorites which have 

 fallen in each successive year from 1803 to 1871 (the years 1816, 

 1817, 1833 and 1845 alone excepted) are now to be met with, either 

 in public or private collections. 



After this historical sketch of the subject, we may proceed to 

 consider the main features connected with the fall of meteorites. All 

 of you have no doubt often witnessed shooting or falling stars, 



