§ IS. ORIGIN OF AEROLITES. 51 



ledge ; there was no peculiar smell in the air : it fell within 

 250 yards of my house."* 



18. Origin of aerolites. — Mrs. Somerville has the 

 following interesting remarks on this subject : — " So nu- 

 merous are the objects which meet our view in the heavens, 

 that we cannot imagine a part of space where some light 

 would not strike the eye : innumerable stars — thousands of 

 double and multiple systems — clusters in one blaze with 

 their ten thousands of stars — and the nebulse amazing us 

 by the strangeness of their forms ; till at last, from the im- 

 perfection of our senses, even these thin and airy phantoms 

 vanish in the distance. If such remote bodies shone by 

 reflected light, we should be unconscious of their existence; 

 each star must then be a sun, and may be presumed to have 

 its system of planets, satellites, and comets, like our own ; 

 and for aught we know, myriads of bodies may be wander- 

 ing in space, unseen by us, of whose nature we can form 

 no idea, and still less of the part they perform in the 

 economy of the universe. Nor is this an unwarranted 

 presumption : many such do come within the sphere of the 

 earth's attraction, are ignited by the velocity with which 

 they pass through the atmosphere, and are precipitated 

 with great violence to the earth. The fall of meteoric 

 stones is much more frequent than is generally believed : 

 hardly a year passes without some instances occurring ; 

 and if it be considered that only a small part of the earth 

 is inhabited, it may be presumed that numbers fall into the 

 ocean, or on the parts of the land uninhabited by civilized 

 man. The obliquity and velocity of the descent of mete- 

 orites, the peculiar substances of which they are composed, 

 and the explosion attending their fall, show that they are 



* An analysis of this meteorite gave the following results : — Oxide 

 of Iron, 24; Oxide of Nickel, 1.25; Silica icith earthy matter, 3.46; 

 Sulphur, a trace; = 28.71. 



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