104 , *SEr William Hamilton's Account of 
44 the midst of a most violent thunder-storm, about a dozen 
44 stones of various weights and dimensions fell at the feet of 
44 different people, men, women, and children ; the stones are 
44 of a quality not found in any part of the Siennese territory; 
44 they fell about 18 hours after the enormous eruption of .Ve- 
44 suvius, which circumstance leaves a choice of difficulties in 
44 the solution of this extraordinary phenomenon : either these 
44 stones have been generated in this igneous mass of clouds, 
44 which produced such unusual thunder, or, which is equally 
44 incredible, they were thrown from Vesuvius at a distance of 
44 at least 250 miles ; judge then of its parabola. The philoso- 
44 phers here incline to the first solution. I wish much, Sir, to 
44 know your sentiments. My first objection was to the fact 
44 itself ; but of this there are so many eye witnesses, it seems 
44 impossible to withstand their evidence, and now I am re- 
44 duced to a perfect scepticism/' His lordship was pleased to 
send me a piece of one of the largest stones, which when en- 
tire weighed upwards of five pounds ; I have seen another 
that has been sent to Naples entire, and weighs about one 
pound. The outside of every stone that has been found, and 
has been ascertained to have fallen from the cloud near Sienna, 
is evidently freshly vitrified, and is black, having every sign 
of having passed through an extreme heat ; when broken, the 
inside is of a light-grey colour mixed with black spots, and 
some shining particles, which the learned here have decided 
to be pyrites, and therefore it cannot be a lava, or they would 
have been decomposed. Stones of the same nature, at least as 
far as the eye can judge of them, are frequently found on 
Mount Vesuvius ; and when I was on the mountain lately, I 
searched for such stones near the new mouths, but as the soil 
? 
