on certain stony and metalline . Substances , &c. 171 
Of their mode of analysis, I shall have occasion to speak 
hereafter. They were induced to conclude, that the stone; pre- 
sented to the Academy by the Abbe Bachelay, did not owe 
its origin to thunder ; that it did not fall from heaven ; that it 
was not formed by mineral substances, fused by lightning ; and 
that it was nothing but a species of pyrites, without peculiarity, 
except as to the hepatic smell disengaged from it by marine 
acid. “ Que cette pierre, qui peut-£tre dtoit couverte d’une 
££ petite couche de terre ou de gazon, aura ete frapp^e par la 
“ foudre, et qffelle aura et 4 ainsi mise en evidence : la chaleur 
££ aura £td assez grande pour fondre la superficie de la partie 
“ frappde, mais elle ffaura pas dte assez long-tems continu^e 
<c pour pouvoir pen^trer dans l’interieur; c’est ce qui fait que 
“ la pierre n’a point £te decomposee. La quantite de matieres 
<£ m^talliques qu’elle contenoit, en opposant moins de resistance 
££ qu’un autre corps au courant de matiere electrique, aura peut- 
££ etre pu contribuer meme a determiner la direction de la 
££ foudre/ , 
The Memoir is however concluded, by observing it to be 
sufficiently singular, that M. Morand le Fils had presented a 
fragment of a stone, from the environs of Coutances, also said 
to have fallen from heaven, which only differed from that of 
the . Abbe Bachelay, because it did not exhale the hepatic 
smell with spirit of salt. Yet the academicians did not think 
any conclusion could be drawn from this resemblance, unless 
that the lightning had fallen by preference on pyritical matter.* 
Mons. Barthold, Professeur a PEcole centrale du Haut- 
Khin, gave I believe the next, and lastj'f analytical account of 
• See Journal de Physique. Tom. II. page 251. 
f A very Interesting detail of a meteor, and of stones fallen in July, 1790, was given 
by Professeur Baud in, in the Magazinfiir das Jsteueste aus der Physik, by Professor 
Voigt. 
Z 2 
