156 



W. R. v. Haidinger on the Phenomena 



[Dec. 10, 



A general survey of this kind I had the honour to lay before our Im- 

 perial Academy on the 14th of March 1861, " On the nature of Meteorites, 

 relating to their composition and the phenomena of their fall"*. I felt, it 

 is true, that I had rather too boldly ventured to transgress the limits of my 

 former studies ; but at the same time, led on by the high interest connected 

 with the subject, I wished to gain some more publicity for it. As to England, 

 I was most kindly and effectively patronized by that energetic promoter of 

 meteoritic science my most honoured friend Mr. R. P. Greg. He laid a 

 notice of mine before the British Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, held that year at Manchester, and accompanied it with several 

 considerations of his own f ; then, also, he kindly had the pages of the 

 Philosophical Magazine opened for me, and presented me with an edition 

 of separate copies of a memoir on the subject — nearly a translation, by my 

 honoured friend Count A. F. Marschall, of my original communication to 

 our Academy J. 



At the Meeting of German naturalists and physicians at Speyer, my 

 honoured friend Dr. Otto Buchner kindly called the attention of the friends 

 of this department of natural science to my memoir, which had been 

 favourably mentioned in the reports. 



A note of mine, containing the leading views of my papers, was likewise 

 laid by my honoured friend M. Elie de Beaumont before the Paris Aca- 

 demie des Sciences in their Meeting of September 9th, 1861, while I also 

 sent a French translation by my excellent friend Count Marschall, together 

 with a copy of my original memoir § . 



Since that time, up to this day, I had frequently, in several communi- 

 cations on meteoritic subjects, had an opportunity to refer to these leading 

 papers, and to support the views which they contained. Therefore I had 

 every reason to be astonished when I read, in a recent work on meteorites 

 by M. Stanislas Meunierjj, the following assertion : — " We may observe that 

 a great number of particular phenomena occurring in the fall of meteorites 

 have hitherto remained without explanation. Thus the reason of the ex- 



* " Ueber die Natur der Meteoriten in ihrer Zusamniensetzung und Erscheinung," 

 Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akadeinie der Wissenschaften, der Mathem.-naturw. 

 Classe, 1861, Band xliii. Abtli. ii. S. 389-425. 



t " An attempt to account for the Physical Condition and the Fall of Meteorites upon 

 our Planet, by W. Haidinger, Hon. Memb. E.S.L. & E. &c," Report, 1861, Transac- 

 tions of the Sections, p. 15. " Some Considerations on M. Haidinger s Communication 

 on the Origin and Fail of Aerolites, by S. P. Greg, F.G.S.," ibid. p. 13. 



J Considerations on the Phenomena attending the Fall of Meteorites on the Earth, 

 by W. Haidinger, For. Memb. E.S.L. & E. ; and Philosophical Magazine for No- 

 vember and December 1861. 



§ " De la nature des bolides et de leur mode de formation. Lettre de M. Haidinger," 

 Comptes Eendus hebdomadaires des seances de l'Acacleinie des Sciences etc. t. liii. 

 Juillet-Decembre 1861, pp. 456-461. 



|| Etude, descriptive, theorique, et experimentale sur les Meteorites, par M. Stanis- 

 las Meunier. Paris, 1857, p. 18. 



