119 



so distinct of something singular passing through the air 

 towards Wold Cottage, that five or six people went up to 

 see if anything extraordinary had happened to the house or 

 grounds. No stone of the kind was known in the country. 



It seemed to be now impossible for any one to doubt the 

 fall of stones from the sky, but the reluctance of scientific 

 men to grant an extra-terrestrial origin to them is shown by 

 the theories referred to in the above letter of Sir W. Hamil- 

 ton, and is rendered even more evident by the theory pro- 

 posed in 1796 by Edward King, who suggested that the 

 stones had their origin in the condensation of a cloud of 

 ashes, mixed with pyritical dust and numerous particles of 

 iron, coming from some volcano. As the stones fell at Siena 

 from . a cloud coming from the North, while Vesuvius is 

 really to the South, he gravely suggested that in this case 

 the cloud had been blown from the South past Siena, and 

 had then before its condensation been brought back by a 

 change of wind. As to the fall of a stone near Wold 

 Cottage, he was not prepared either to believe or disbelieve 

 the witnesses until the matter had been more closely examined; 

 but in case the statements should prove worthy of credit, he 

 points out the possibility of a cloud having come from Mount 

 Hecla in Iceland. 



Later came a well-authenticated account of a more won- 

 derful event still. At 8 o'clock on the evening of December 

 19, 1798, many stones fell at Krakhut, 14 miles from Benares, 

 in India (152 S) ; the sky was perfectly serene, not a cloud 

 having been seen since December 1 1 th, and none being seen 

 for many days after. According to the observations of several 

 Europeans, as well as natives, in different parts of the country, 

 the fall of the stones was preceded by the appearance of a 

 ball of fire, lasting for only a few instants, and accompanied 

 by an explosion resembling thunder. 



Fragments of the stones of Siena, Wold Cottage, and 

 Benares, as also of a stone said to have fallen on July 3, 1753, 

 at Tabor, in Bohemia (140 Q), came into the hands of Edward 

 Howard, and the comparative results of a chemical and 

 mineralogical investigation (the latter by the Count de Bour- 

 non) of these four stones are given in a paper read before 



