458 Dr. Boase on M. Faye's Memoir on the Existence of a 



in catalogues drawn from every available source is a reasonable esti- 

 mate, especially when based on observations made in civilized and 

 densely peopled countries like England, France, and Germany. How 

 few persons, I may also add, are there who have ever in their life- 

 time either seen a meteoric stone fall, or even heard the always vio- 

 lent detonation of an exploding aerolitic meteor. There seems to 

 have been of the latter only three instances recorded as observed in 

 England during the last ten years, and no well-authenticated instance 

 of a meteoric-stone fall since 1835, and that a single one of about 

 2 lbs. in weight ! To know whether a meteoric stone has fallen, it 

 is then not exactly necessary to calculate the proportions of waste or 

 forest ground, &c. that exists even in Europe, as Baron Reichenbach 

 argues, in order to arrive at the number of stones not picked up, if 

 we assume that aerolitic detonating meteors are seen and heard as a 

 rule over very large areas, and count as actual falls in our calcula- 

 tions. So striking indeed are the phenomena usually attending the 

 fall and appearance of aerolites and aerolitic meteors, that I much 

 question whether fully two-thirds of the real number would not cer- 

 tainly be recorded in the daily or scientific journals, say of England 

 and France. Instead, therefore, of placing the total weight of me- 

 teoric matter annually deposited on the earth as high as 450,000 lbs., 

 as calculated by Baron Reichenbach, I am inclined to estimate it 

 at probably less than 100,000 lbs. This is, however, more a ques- 

 tion of degree, and does not vitally affect the ulterior argument in- 

 volved in the problem proposed by Baron Reichenbach and M, Hai- 

 dinger — a problem not without importance and interest, though 

 Bomewhat speculative. — R.P.G. 



The reader is requested to correct the following errata in the first por- 

 tion of this paper : — 



Page 353, line 10 from top, for 24,000 read 24,000x7- 

 — — line 11 from top,/or 124-4 read 1247. 

 vst — line 14 from top, for 4080-32 read 40901-6. 



LVIII. A Sketch of M. Faye's " Examen d'un Memoir e de M. 

 Plana sur la force repulsive et le milieu resistant" with a few 

 Remarks thereon. By Henry S. Boase, M.D., F.R.S. $ G.S.* 



THE concluding summary of M. Faye's memoir, published in 

 the 'Illustrated London News' for September 7 under the 

 head of " Scientific News," attracted my attention, and excited 

 a strong desire to see the memoir itself; for its statements con- 

 cerning the duality and universality of the forces attraction and 

 repulsion, in celestial phenomena, seemed to indicate views very 

 similar to those advanced in my ' Philosophy of Nature*' Having 



• Communicated by the Author. 



