ari(j mbteors.; 413 
a vapour ; and sometimes a compact ball, 
-V '*'®re^ *"°ugh the materials of which they are formed, 
have and concentrated. Not unfrequently 
I'flavek — j 
**>11116 found to consist of both, and consequently 
^ nucleus or 
Os. tiiin *lie centre, or towards the centre, and 
^in — vwTTuivio ii*c v^cmic^ aiju 
’> ii.r‘' sidp or luminous main, or tail, sweeping 
Vs^ of sometimes of a pale white light ; 
V^eii’t j igneous crimson; and, occasionally, 
\ - V to V,” ■ , ''ibratory. The rarer meteors appear tie- 
® sudden, as though abruptly dissolved 
''’i k '^'^otn atmospheric medium, their flight 
SlOau pP®'”®'! by a hissing sound, and their disappear 
' fi'plosion. ■ 
Of ,, v.J-'iun. 
Use which are 
The most compact of them, or th.. 
'■aceof ", "'““'■n are rarer, have often descended to. 
**'any f earth, and with a force sufficient to bury 
•' in'i*®ffect ^ under the' soil ; generally exhibiting marks 
^!lf^®se *>^ 5 ion and considerable heat. The substance 
lose 
f/ Sg ***ch tK^^* • J I^UL UIX*^ 
oa consist is not any where to be found, in 
for the greater part metallic ; but tlie 
'*(i ..^nder "l™'”" propurtiops, in the bowels of tlie 
ih*'^''lites projected masses are denomi- 
ur meteoric stones. 
lot bp" . 
1 'lie v'ost s, *i^'nteresting to preface a succinct account 
'N . .''potb *^P*^*^'*’S these meteors, by a brief notice 
which have been imflonnerl rnnremincr 
which have been imagined concerning 
'®<J. justly the learned Humboldt may have 
. > in ti -i ‘V '■‘w learnea rtumooiat may nave 
a °f *be extract given above, that 
J’^K?,or Ignorant on this subject as men wi 
J^j*'losop|^®*‘'’goras.’‘ Sir J. Pringle contended. 
were m 
witli 
wV^^soubp ^Soras. Sir J. Pringle contended, witli 
v'lt ^^bal el that they are revolving bodies, or a kind 
'If ?nets. Doctor Halley conjectured them to 
l„.'^°^bnstible 
■ bodies 
. “tip, 
OOrT * ' 
■^\JJ*Phere outskirts, or extreme regions of 
Oaiisg’ f”.bo suddenly set on fire by som« 
vapours, accumulated and formed 
V ' 
opinion which, with little diflerence, has 
^ r H«“‘bon and Doctor K.ng 
' . ^S^rded them altogether as electrical pheno 
t J5“ WA VAk, i\.- V. I A iV-lU- — 
i®to ji obeyed themto consist of volcanic materials, 
Siik*''l®nce^ *^osphere in the course of explosions 
*^Ces' • ■ ^bladni supposed them to be form* 
existing exteriorly to the asmosphere 
