( i <5* ) 
this impetus (hon'd he determined in a Dire&ion fo nearly pa- 
rallel to the Horizon} and what fcrt of Subfiancc it mud 
be, that could be fo impelled and ignited at the fame time : 
there being no V ulcano or other Spiraculum oi fubterrancous 
fire in the AT E. parts of the W orld, th z we ever yet heard 
of, from whence it might be projeded. 
I have much considered this Appearance, and think 
it one of the barded things to account for, that I have 
yet met with in the Thanomena of M'teors, and am in- 
duced to think that it mud be fome Colle&ion of Mat- 
ter form’d in the /Ether, as it were by fome fortuitous 
Concour(e of Atoms, and that the Earth met with it as it 
pad along in its Orb, then but newly formed, and before 
it had conceived any great Impetus of Defcent towards the 
Sun- For the Direction of it was exactly oppofite to chat of 
the Earth, which made an Angle with the Meridian at that 
time (the Sun being in about 1 1 Degrees of Aries) of 67 Gr. 
that is, its Courfe was from W. S. W. to E. M. E. wherefore 
the Meteor feem’d to move the contrary Way : And befidcs 
falling into the Power of the Earth’s Gravity, and lofing its 
Motion from the Oppofition of the Medium, it feems that it 
defeended towards the Earth, and was extinguidi’d in the 
Tyrrhene Sea, to the W. S. VV. of Leghorn. The great Blow being 
heard upon its fird Immerfion into the Water, and the rat- 
ling like the driving a Cart over Stones being what Suc- 
ceeded upon its quenching ; fomething like which is always 
obferved upon quenching a very hot Iron in Water Thefe 
Fads being pad difpute, 1 would be glad to have the Opinion 
of the Learned thereon, and what Objedion can be reafo- 
nably made againd the abovefeid Hypothefis, which I humbly 
iubmit to their Cenfure. 
P. S. Since this was written, there has fallen into my Hands 
an Account of much fuch another Appearance, feen in Ger- 
many, in the Year 1686, at Letpftc, by the late Mr. Gottfreid 
Mrch , who was for many years a very diligent Obferver of the . 
Heavens* 
1 
