12* 



pressions to be made on the surfaces of some of the stones, 

 by means of others." 



These dents, I think, look more truly like pieces 

 having burst from the mass, which always appears more 

 like an irregular fragment of a rock than a conglomerated 

 body that had gathered in the air, which most likely would 

 have been spherical. The Yorkshire stone, which has many 

 of these hollows, fell alone. 



We can say but little about the probability of their falling 

 through our atmosphere from any of the planets : their 

 coming hot to the earth, with so little velocity and force, 

 after falling from so immense a distance, and their angular 

 form, make it more astonishing. Mr. Howard observes 

 that the concordance of facts seems to render it most indis- 

 putable that certain stony and metallic substances have, at 

 different periods, fallen to the earth. Whence they came, 

 he thinks is involved in complete obscurity. 



In the account of the explosion of the meteor near 

 Benares, in the East-Indies, by John Lloyd Williams, Esq. 

 and the falling of stones at the same time, we find a good 

 history of the nature and manner of their fall, which hap- 

 pened on the 19th of December 2 798, at eight o'clock in 

 the evening; and we conclude the effect must have been 

 very conspicuous. A meteor is said to have appeared in the 

 western part of the hemisphere, and was but a short time 

 visible. It was observed by several Europeans, as well as 

 natives, in different parts of the country, who described 

 it as a large ball of fire, accompanied by a loud rumbling 

 noise, not unlike an ill-discharged platoon of musketry. The 

 light came into a Mr. Davis's room, projecting the shadow 

 of the frames of the window as in the brightest moonlight. 

 A number of stones were said to have fallen from it near 

 Krakhut, a village about 14 miles from Benares, many of 

 which were picked up from the fields. They penetrated 



