Outlines of Meteoric Astronomy. 217 



similar to tlie shower of stones which, fell at Stannern, between 

 Prague and Vienna, on the 22nd of May, 1812. At six o'clock 

 in the morning, after violent concussions, followed by rumbling 

 noises for six or eight minutes, nearly 200 stones fell in the 

 fields round Stannern, and were brought from the high 

 road to the village in great numbers. Yon Schreibers, who 

 reported this stonefall to the Vienna Academy, collected sixty- 

 one specimens of the stones, and consigned them to the Im- 

 perial Museum, where the greater number may still be seen. 

 At the time of the stonefall at L/Aigle, only three specimens 

 of aerolites were to be found in the Imperial Museum at Vienna, 

 namely those of Ensisheim, Mauerkirchen, and Eichstadt, but 

 after the occurrence of that at Stannern greater interest was 

 awakened, and the Museum at the present day contains 220 

 specimens of meteorites. It is only exceeded in this respect by 

 the magnificent collection at present exhibited at the British 

 Museum. 



(12.) The meteorites of Barbotan, L'Aigle, and Stannern are 

 memorable instances of aerolitic showers. They must, in the 

 opinion of Haidinger, of Vienna, have entered the air as a crowd 

 or swarm of stones ; but instances of solitary meteorites have also 

 been abundantly recorded, of which the following are examples. 

 The meteorite of Ensisheim, already mentioned above, is the 

 earliest existing instance, and the large stone which fell in 

 Yorkshire on the 13th of December, 1795, should be a familiar 

 example to all who have visited the department of minerals 

 exhibited at the British Museum. It is a cubical block 

 weighing 56 lbs. The large meteorite which fell at Juvinas 

 (Ardeche) in France, on the 15th June, 1821, although similar 

 in its texture and minerals to the aerolites of Stannern, was a 

 solitary stone. It weighs 220 lbs. Of meteorites which fell in 

 smaller numbers those only need be noticed in which the 

 height and velocity of the attendant fire-ball was accurately 

 determined. The meteorites of Weston, in America, fell at 

 daybreak on the morning of the 13th December, 1807, a date, 

 like the 13th of October, justly rendered • famous for aerolitic 

 falls. The stones were few in number, and fell at three points 

 of the meteor's path, corresponding, according to Bowditch, 

 to three explosions which took place at heights of twenty-five 

 to sixteen miles above the earth. The velocity of the meteor 

 was estimated by Prof. Bowditch at only three miles per second. 

 The two stones which fell at Charsonville, near Orleans, in 

 France, on the 23rd November, 1810, were preceded by a lire- 

 ball, of which the explosion and disappearance was estimated 

 by Dutrochet at seventeen miles above the earth. They weighed 

 40 lbs. and 20 lbs. respectively, and are crossed by dark veins 

 which give the mass a marble-like appearance. The meteorites 



