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STONES FALLING FROM THE AIR. 
Aerolites and 
globes of fire 
greatly resem- 
ble each other. 
from the moon would certainly be consumed to the last atom, 
in consequence of the distance they have to pass through, and 
yet the explosion never takes place but near to the earth. The 
natural philosophers, who adopt this theory, consider these at- 
mospheric stones as lava, which agrees very little with the ex- 
tremely superficial and slight oxidation of these bodies. The 
same theory assigns no cause for the explosions which always 
accompany the fall of aerolites ; for, in the eruptions of our 
volcanos, they are very rarely perceived, or in a manner which 
is purely accidental. The frequent, and often considerable 
irregularity of their course, the obliquity of their direction, and 
its being often nearly parallel to the ground, and still more the 
undulatory rising and falling, or jumps of one of these stones, 
which proves a deviation contrary to that occasioned by gravity, 
are among the many proofs which do not allow of the lunar 
theory being considered as the most probable. 
And, lastly, we may add, that by admitting this theory, we 
cannot at all explain the slowness of the fall of the aerolites. 
Bodies falling from the moon would not arrive on the roofs of 
houses without penetrating them, cr damaging them conside- 
rably, which circumstance has never been observed to happen. 
The duration of this phenomenon ought also to be nearly the 
same, with the slight difference which their volume or their ' 
weight might produce j but we know that, in some instances, 
it has lasted for several minutes ; and under some circum- 
stances, undoubtedly very rare, its continuance has been for 
entire hours 
Besides these difficulties, which are of no small magnitude, 
there are likewise other phenomena, which it would be difficult 
t© explain by the same theory ; and though these phenomena 
do not absolutely belong to the same species as the meteor olites, 
yet they are so intimately connected with them, that they can 
scarcely be separated. 
We might, it seems, class with the aerolites those ignited 
globes which are only distinguished from them because their 
masses are not metallic— but in other respects, like the atmos- I 
pheric stones, they fall in the hottest months, and in calm wea- 
ther ! 
