STONES FALLING FROM TEE AIR. 
245 
It is not less remarkable to observe, that the large and small The larger 
stones do not fall together, but at the beginning of the course the ^ 
largest are precipitated, and they become smaller in proportion 
as they approach the other extremity of the line of projection. 
This was observed in the meteor at Stannern, which moved 
from east to west, and threw down the largest stone's in propor- 
tion as it advanced. The meteor which appeared at L’Aigle* 
and in several other places, have exhibited the same phenomena. 
On examining the cohesion of these atmospheric stones, we They are soft 
at first and 
find that it is not the same before as after their fall. A great become hard 
number of these stones are in such a soft state, that they are aiterwaids. 
frequently flattened on touching the earth, which was the case 
with those which fell in the years 1/68, 1753, 1808, &c. Some 
have even been seen in a state resembling fusion or fluidity, as 
were those which fell at Lesay, near Constancef, in 1/31, and 
lastly those which were picked up in Poland in the year l79^+» 
But all these stones become solid, and even compact, some time 
after their fall. That soft state in which aerolites are often 
found, agrees very well with their shape, which is almost always 
that of a triangle or pointed figure, rounded beneath, or of an 
oval flattened at the lower part, a form which all bodies present 
when they fall from any considerable height, and do not possess 
great solidity. 
With regard to the temperature of aerolites when they reach They are not. 
, . . , , . hot enough toy 
the ground, it is seldom as low as that ox the air, but most burn vegeta- 
frequently approaches nearly to that of boiling water ; and this ^Sve 
is the most usual, since when they fall in a certain state of soft- fallen. 
ness they adhere to little pieces of straw and other combustible 
matter, without inflaming them. 
It has been pretended, in consequence of a certain number of Shetherall 
aerolites having been analysed, that their elements are all nearly these bodies 
the same ; but have all the parts which compose them been 
carefully examined ? For example, has any notice been taken of 
* Memoir on the stones which fell near L’Aigle,by Fourcroy : Annales 
du Museum d’Hist. Natur. tom. III. p. 101. 
t Memoirs de Lausitz, 1796. 
f Journal de Physique de Gilbert, tom, XXXI, 
that 
