435 
and several were so hot as to burn the fingers of those who 
attempted to pick them np. 
Four years before, a similar phenomenon occurred in France, 
and was attested by a legal document signed by the magis- 
trates of the municipality and several hundreds of the inhabit- 
ants of the district where it occurred. It is as follows : — 
In the year 1790, and the 30th day of the month of August, we, the Lieu- 
tenant Jean Duby, mayor, and Louis Massillon, Procurator of the commune 
of the municipality of La Grange-de- Juillac, and Jean Darmite, resident in 
the parish of La Grange-de- Juillac, certify in truth and verity that, 
on Saturday, the 24th of July last, between nine and ten o clock, there 
passed a great fire, and after it we heard in the air a very loud and extra- 
ordinary noise ; and about two minutes after there fell stones from heaven ; 
but fortunately there fell only a very few, and they fed about ten paces from 
one another in some places, and in others nearer, and finally, in some other 
places farther ; and falling, most of them of the weight of about half a quarter 
of a pound each, some others of about half a pound, like that found in our 
parish of La Grange ; and on the borders of the parish of La Grange, and on 
the borders of the parish of Creon they were found of a pound, weight ; and 
in falling they seemed not to be inflamed, but very hard and black without, 
and within of the colour of steel ; and, thank God, they occasioned no harm 
to the people, nor to the trees, but only to some tiles which were broken on 
the houses ; and most of them fell gently, and others fell quickly with a 
hissing noise ; and some were found which had entered into the earth, but 
very few. In witness whereof we have written and signed these presents. 
Duby, Mayor. Darmite. 
On December 13th, 1795, on the afternoon of a mild but 
hazy day, a report of a violent explosion followed by a hissing 
sound was heard in the neighbourhood of Wold Cottage, the 
house of Captain Topham, in Yorkshire. A ploughman saw a 
large stone fall to the earth eight or nine yards from the spot 
where he stood. It threw up the mould on every side, and, 
penetrating through the soil, lodged some inches deep in the 
solid chalk. The greater part of this stone is now in the 
British Museum, and weighs forty-five pounds eight ounces. 
The next account to which I shall draw your attention is to 
the great fall of meteoric stones in Normandy which created 
such a sensation in France, and caused the Academy of Sciences 
to send a commission of inquiry on the subject, with M. Biot 
at its head. From this date the fall of meteoric stones has 
been received as an established scientific fact. 
On Tuesday, April 26th, 1803, about one in the afternoon, the weather 
being serene, there was observed, in a part of Normandy, including Caen, 
Falaise, Alengon, and a large number of villages, a fiery globe of great bril- 
liancy moving through the atmosphere with great rapidity. Some moments 
alter there was heard at LAigle and in the environs to the extent of more 
