NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
231 
under cultivation, and is true to seed. It seems especially partial to sandy soils, 
such as those of the Greensands in Surrey, though I have found it on Gault clay. 
It will have been noticed by many that though the pigment often fails in blue or 
red flowers, we seldom have white varieties of those normally yellow. 
G. S. llOULGER. 
“ Meteoric ” Stones. — A party of the members of the Selborne Society 
had a very enjoyable afternoon in visiting the so-called meteoric stones at the 
Natural History Museum, Kensington, on Saturday, November 15, under the 
pleasurable guidance of Mrs. Percy Myles, where we heard a very lucid and 
scientific lecture from Mr. L. Fletcher, F. K.S., on the subject of these stones, 
giving their mineral composition, and also a complete history of many of them as 
far as is ascertainable. Mr. Fletcher took every trouble to e.xplain the subject, 
and succeeded in interesting his audience. 
Our party was much interested in examining the fragment of one of these 
iron-stones, which is believed to have fallen from regions beyond the sky into 
a field in the parish of Crumlin, in the county of Antrim, Ireland, on September 
13 last. Although Mr. Fletcher did not go into the details of the discovery of 
this stone, some interesting particulars were given on a card attached to the case 
in which the stone is placed. From this we learnt that an explosion was heard 
by a man named Adams, and also a hissing noise, and that on his looking round 
a cloud of dust was seen rising from a spot close by, in a wheat field, and also 
a sulphurous smell was observed. On going to the place, this fragment of 
a stone was found to be then hot, and it was in a hollow one foot and a-half deep. 
It is worthy of note that no one actually saw the fall of the stone. 
As I am a sceptic as to the belief that these stones come from the sky, perhaps 
you will allow me to state what I believe actually took place in reference to this 
Irish stone. I cannot think there can be any doubt that these stones were origi- 
nally of volcanic production. This idea is borne out by Sir Robert Ball. But 
I believe that they were ejected from volcanoes many ages ago in the world’s 
history, and were buried at the time in the earth’s crust. My belief with reference 
to the Crumlin stone is that the explosion that was heard on September 13 was 
a clap of thunder. Thunder, when the electric fluid is close by, always sounds 
like an explosion or a series of explosions. Immediately previous to the thunder 
I believe that electric fluid in the shape of a flash of lightning was attracted by 
the quantity of iron in the stone as it lay buried in the ground, and struck the 
stone and the earth above it, causing a cloud of dust to arise. Of course the 
lightning would break the stone and cause it to be hot ; and if the stone contained 
any sulphur, it would likely account for the sulphurous smell. The hot stone 
against damp ground would cause the hissing noise. It is said there was a stone 
underneath the stone that was found, but I think it will probably be found that 
the underneath stone is a part of the same stone, of which the fragment in the 
Museum is a portion. In a newspaper account that I saw, it was stated that 
the stone in its fall had not disturbed the wheat in the slightest degree. I hardly 
think this would have been the case if the stone had actually fallen when the 
wheat was growing there. 
I have been told that a combination of sulphur and iron in minerals, when 
exposed to damp or to air, frequently produces spontaneous combustion, and 
causes such extreme heat as to make the mineral burst and scatter its numerous 
fragments for a considerable distance in all directions. I put this forward as a 
possible explanation of some of the supposed falls of meteorites. It must be 
noted at what a little distance below the surface of the ground these volcanic iron- 
stones are found, showing how slight was their velocity on coming to the ground. 
I do not believe there is any properly substantiated proof of a single case to 
be found of any stone having ever been seen to fall from the sky. 
Hampstead, November 17, 1902. Peter Hastie. 
[We think our correspondent must be mistaken in attributing to Sir Robert 
Ball a belief in the volcanic origin of meteorites. There are many objections to 
such a theory. Iron alloyed with nickel, graphite and cliftonite, are practically 
unknown among volcanic rocks, though frequent in meteorites ; and many 
meteorites have been seen to fall in districts far removed from volcanoes. If 
Mr. Hastie will read Mr. Fletcher’s “ Introduction to the Study of Meteorites,” 
published at the Museum for threepence, he will, we think, alter his opinion. 
—Ed. N.N.\ 
