ir 



And if we read from verse 7 to 15, we seem to have In 

 the language of the Psalms a tolerable account of the manner 

 of their falling. " At the brightness which was before him, 

 thick Clouds passed, Hailstones and Coals of Fire." 



There are many opinions concerning the origin of these 

 stones, and the Abbe Stutz remarks (vide Mr. King's ac- 

 count), "There is a great step from the disbelief of tales, 

 to the finding out the true cause of a phsenomenon which 

 appears wonderful to us. And probably," says he, " I should 

 have committed the fault into which we are so naturally led, 

 respecting things we cannot explain; and have rather denied 

 the whole history, than have determined to believe anything 

 so incredible, if various new writings on electricity and 

 thunder had not fortunately, at that time, come into my 

 hands, concerning remarkable experiments of reviving me- 

 tallic calces by the electric spark. Lightning is an electrical 

 stroke on a large scale. If then the reduction of iron can be 

 obtained by the discharge of an electrical machine, why 

 should not this be accomplished as well, and with much 

 greater effect, by the very powerful discharge of the lightning 

 from the clouds?" 



Thus, some consider that these stones may have been 

 formed or generated in the air, by a combination of the mi- 

 neral substances which had risen as exhalations from the 

 earth; and the learned Mr. King gives us a very ingenious 

 detail how it might naturally happen — " That the ashes from 

 volcanos, after being thrown to an immense height, may 

 consolidate by help of the particles of iron and pyritical 

 dust, take fire either spontaneously or by means of the elec- 

 tric fluid within them, producing many explosions, and, by 

 a sudden crystallization and consolidation taking place, 

 form stones of various sizes, which fall to the ground ; but 

 the clayey ashes not hardening so rapidly as the metallic 

 particles crystallize, an opportunity was given for im- 



