Mr. Howard's Experiments and Observations , &c. i6g 
fall, as it was said, from heaven, or from the gods ; these, 
either from ignorance, or perhaps from superstitious views, 
were confounded with other stones, which, by their compact 
aggregation, were better calculated to be shaped into different 
instruments, and to which it was convenient to attach a species 
of mysterious veneration. In modern days, because explosion 
and report have generally accompanied the descent of such 
substances, the name of thunderbolt, or thunderstone, has igno- 
rantly attached itself to them ; and, because a variety of sub- 
stances accidentally present, near buildings and trees struck 
with lightning, have, with the same ignorance, been collected as 
thunderbolts, the thunderbolt and the fallen metalline substance 
have been ranked in the same class of absurdity. Certainly, 
since the phenomena of lightning and electricity have been so 
well identified, the idea of a thunderbolt is ridiculous. But the 
existence of peculiar substances fallen on the earth, I cannot 
hesitate to assert ; and, on the concordance of remote and 
authenticated facts, I shall rest the assertion. 
Mr. King, the learned author of Remarks coticerning Stones said 
to have fallen from the Clouds , in these Days , and in ancient Times , 
has adduced quotations of the greatest antiquity, descriptive of 
the descent of fallen stones ; and, could it be thought necessary 
to add antique testimonies to those instanced by so profound an 
antiquarian, the quotations of Mons. Falconet, in his papers 
upon Boetilia, inserted in the Histoire des Inscriptions et Belles- 
Lettres;* the quotations in Zahn's Specula Physico-mathematica 
Historiana the Fisica Sotterranea of Giacinto Gemma; the 
works of Pliny, and others, might be referred to. 
* Tom; VI. P. 519. et Tom. XXIII. P. 228. 
t Fol. 1696. Vol.I. p. 385. where a long enumeration of stones fallen from the sky 
is given. 
MDCCCIL Z 
