AEK0L1TES. 
409 
by three in breadth, has been variously estimated at from two 
to three thousand. They ranged in weight from 2 drachms 
up to 11 \ lb. The French Government immediately deputed 
M. Biot, the celebrated naturalist and philosopher, to proceed 
to the spot, for the express purpose of collecting the authentic 
facts concerning a phenomenon which, until that time, had 
almost universally been treated as an instance of popular 
superstition and credulity. His conclusive report was the 
means of putting an end to all scepticism on the subject, and 
since that date the reality — not merely the possibility — of such 
occurrences has no longer been contested. 
Leaving out, for the present, innumerable foreign instances 
which might be quoted, we must now glance rapidly at a few 
of the most noticeable examples of the fall of meteoric stones 
which have taken place in England. The earliest which 
appears on record descended in Devonshire, near Sir George 
ChudleiglPs house at Stretchleigh, in the parish of Ermington, 
about twelve miles from Plymouth. The circumstance is 
thus related by Westcote, one of the quaint old Devonshire 
historians : — 
In some part of this manor (Stretchleigh), there fell from above — I cannot 
say from heaven — a stone of twenty-three pounds weight, with a great and 
fearful noise in falling ; first it was heard like unto thunder, or rather to be 
thought the report of some great ordnance, cannon, or culverin ; and as it 
descended, so did the noise lessen, at last when it came to the earth to the 
height of the report of a petemel, or pistol. It was for matter like unto a 
stone singed, or half-burned for lime, but being larger described by a richer 
wit, I will forbear to enlarge on it. 
The “ richer wit 33 here alluded to, was in all probability the 
author of a pamphlet published at the time, which further 
describes this aerolite as having fallen on January 10th, 1623, 
in an orchard, near some men who were planting trees. It 
was buried in the ground three feet deep, and its dimensions 
were 3^ feet long, 2| wide, and 1J thick. The pamphlet also 
states that pieces broken from off it were in the possession of 
many of the neighbouring gentry. We may here remark that 
no specimen of this stone is at present known to be in 
existence, and that although living in the county where it 
fell, we have hitherto failed in tracing any of the fragments 
here referred to. A few years later, in August, 1628, several 
meteoric stones, weighing from 1 to 24 pounds, fell at 
Hatford, in Berkshire ; and in the month of May, 1 680, 
several are said to have fallen in the neighbourhood of 
London. 
The total number of aerolitic descents, which up to this 
present time have been observed to take place in Great 
