NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
57 
a moment that many bodies, some of stone (aerolites), some of iron (siderites), 
and some of an admixture of stone and iron (siderolites) have descended to the 
ground at various times and in various places. 
The history of stone and iron falls is much as follows. Loud detonations are 
suddenly heard, the startled listeners have quickly glanced above and around to 
ascertain the cause, when they have immediately seen a body descend rapidly to 
the earth. They have run to the spot and found a hole from which soon after- 
wards they have extracted a stone while hot or warm, which has had a singular 
appearance and has been utterly dissimilar in its composition and state to any 
other stones in the same locality. The chain of evidence has thus been complete, 
and it has been furnished to us again and again. The very same incident will 
recur in the years of the future, for the facts of nature, like the facts of history, are 
apt to repeat themselves. 
I cannot take up your valued space with a lengthy reference to facts, but with 
your very kind permission will just refer to one or two statements made by Mr. 
Hastie. He says he does “ not believe that 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.” Now let us take as examples the two most recent cases of stone falls 
which have occuried in the United Kingdom. 
Crumlin, September 13, 1902 : Three men were guided to the spot, about 
twenty yards distant, where the stone fell by seeing something going into the 
ground with lightning speed and the soil thrown up a considerable distance into 
the air. Amongst standing corn a hole was at once discovered and a hot stone of 
special kind was dug out soon afterwards. 
Middlesbrough, March 14, 1881 : The fall was witnessed by an inspector and 
three platelayers working forty-eight yards distant from the railway siding where 
it occurred, and less than twenty yards from a signal box in which the pointsman 
and one of the platelayers were conversing. The latter thought that a stone had 
been thrown at the building by his companions outside.- Going to the spot the 
men found a nearly vertical hole, and at a depth of eleven inches a stone quite 
warm and of very abnormal character was discovered. 
Instances of very similar kind might be greatly multiplied, but it seems quite 
unnecessary to make a lot of quotations. If a man will contradict one thoroughly 
well-attested case he may just as well contradict them all. 
Your correspondent remarks that “ there was a stone underneath the Crumlin 
stone that was extracted, but I think it will probably be found that the under- 
neath stone is a part of the same stone of which the fragment in the museum is a 
portion.” For weakness of argument it would be very hard to beat this ! As 
though the stone underljing the meteorite had not been thoroughly examined and 
found a different object altogether, as though the hole had not been further 
excavated and its contents overhauled with critical eyes, and as though the whole 
neighbourhood had not been explored for other traces of fallen fragments ! But 
one stone only, of black colour and extra-terrestrial composition was found, and 
it had nothing whatever to do with the ordinary field stones lying near, and 
naturally so, since it had but recently made its incursion from planetary space. 
Mr. Hastie regards it as a remarkable circumstance that meteoric stones do 
not fall upon houses or streets. But the palpable explanation is that these inci- 
dents are comparatively rare, and that the area of our towns and roads hardly 
covers, I should say, one thousandth part of the entire country. It is therefore 
obvious that, consistently with the law of probabilities, the descent of such bodies 
should almost invariably take place on the fields or similar places. It is scarcely 
to be supposed that planetary objects, obeying the immutable laws of Nature, are 
in a position to select suitable sites for their resting places ! Does Mr. Hastie 
require that a meteorite should fall at his feet in Hampstead ? He would be 
sceptical perhaps, even then 1 
Let your correspondent obtain a closer acquaintance with this interesting 
subject and study the evidence without bias or preconceived ideas, if he can. 
Further knowledge may well induce him to modify his present opinions. In any 
case his opposition to well-established facts and legitimate deductions drawn from 
them can avail him nothing, for the truth must prevail. In one respect his com- 
munications have done a positive good in directing attention to a very attractive 
branch of astronomy. 
