5* 



cne ground might not have power to conglomerate, to form 

 at once, and, as it were, to knead together that heterogeneous 

 mass of sulphureous and mineral matter of which this 

 stone, and all others that are supposed to have so fallen, 

 seem to be composed ? 



Having premised thus much, lest there should be found a 

 person who might suppose I had the smallest wish or in- 

 clination to impose upon the world a wonderful story, I 

 shall proceed to state what circumstances attended the fall- 

 ing of the stone in question, which was witnessed by many 

 people who could have no interest in fabricating a false ac- 

 count, and were far too simple to have done so. What is most 

 singular is, that it should have been so well attested, because 

 on the high wolds of Yorkshire thousands of stones might 

 have fallen, and there might not have been even a solitary 

 shepherd, or his more solitary dog, to have witnessed the 

 occurrence. 



It was on Sunday, about three o'clock, the thirteenth of 

 December, in the year ] 795, that the stone in question fell 

 within two fields of my house. The weather was misty, and, 

 at times, inclining to rain; and though there was some 

 thunder and lightning at a distance, it was not till the fall- 

 ing of the stone that the explosion took place, which alarmed 

 the surrounding country, and which created so distinctly 

 the sensation that something very singular had happened. 



When the stone fell, a shepherd of mine, who was return- 

 ing from his sheep, was about 150 yards from the spot; 

 George Sawden, a carpenter, was passing within 60 yards ; 

 and John Shipley, one of my farming servants, was so near 

 the spot where it fell, that he was struck very forcibly by 

 some of the mud and earth raised by the stone dashing into 

 the earth, which it penetrated to the depth of twelve inches, 

 and seven afterwards into the chalk rock, — making in all a 

 depth of nineteen inches from the surface. 



While the stone was passing through the air — which it 



