434 On Stones, Sc. faid to have fallen from the Clouds. [Dec. I, 
fismed by numerous teftimonies. Accord- 
ing to the bef account, thefe ftones fell 
on the 24th of July 1790, beiween nine 
and ten in the evening, in the communes 
of Juliac, Creon, and other places adja- 
gent, between Roquefort in the depart- 
ment of Landes, Mezin in the department 
of Lot and Garonne, and Gaufe, in the de- 
partment of Gerz, after the appearance of 
a large fre-ball, which paffed thro” the air 
accompanied by a loud report. They fell, 
t is faid, at different diftances; fome 
eitly, and others with rapidity and a 
hiffing noife. They buricd themfelves, 
roore or leis, in the earth. Their weight 
was froma quarter of a poucd to 20 or 
25 pounds. One of them, fifteen inches 
in diameter, is preferved in the Mufeum 
of Bourdeaux, which in its fall broke 
through a cottage, and killed a herd{man 
and fome cattle. There is no ftone in the 
places where thefe fell that has any refem- 
biance tc them.* 
The account next in fueceffion is to 
be found ina letter from the Earl of Brif- 
tel to Sir William Hamilton, dated Sienna, 
Joly 12, 1794. if 
fQ tet 6 
«< In the midit of a moft 
violent thunder-ftorm,” fays his Lordfhip, 
<< about a dezen ficnes, of various weights 
and dimenfons, fell at the feet of different 
perfons, men women, and children. ‘The 
fiones are of a quality not found in any 
part of the Siennefe territory: they fell 
about eighteen hours after the enormous 
eruption of Mount Vefuvius; which cir- 
cumflance leaves a choice of difficulties in 
the folution of this extraordinary pheno- 
mecon. Either thefe ftones have been 
“generated in the igneous mals of clouds, 
which produced fuch unufual thunder, or, 
which is equally incredible, thry were 
thrown from Mount Vefuvius at a dif- 
tance of at Jeait 250 miles; judge then 
of the parabola. ‘The philofophers here 
incline to the frf.folution. J with munch, 
Sir, to know your fentiments. My firft 
objection was to the fact itfelf; but of 
this there were fo many eye-witnefles, it 
Seems impoflible to withftand their evi- 
dence.” 7 
Sir William Hamilton, it feems, alfo 
received a piece of one of the largeft 
ftones, which weighed upwards of five 
pounds, and had feen another which 
weighed aboutone. Helikewife obferved 
that the outfide of every -ffone which had 
been found, and had been afcertained to 
have fallen frem the clouds near Sienna, 
* Bioliotheque Britannique.—Journal des 
Sciences utiles de Montpellier, 1790. Philof, 
Tranf. 1803. part i. page 200-1. 
+ Philot. Tranf. 1795, page 103. 
was evidently frefhly vitrified, and was 
black, having every appearance of having 
pafied through an extreme heat. The in- 
fide was of a grey colour, mixed with 
black fpots, and iome fhining particles 
which the learned had decided to be py- 
rites.* 
_ In 1796, a ftone, weighing 55 pounds, 
was exhibited in London, with feveral at- 
teflations of perfons who, on the 13th of 
December 1795, faw it fall, near Wold 
Cottage, in Yorkfhire, at about three 
o'clock in the afternoon. It had peue- 
trated through twelve inches of foil, and 
fix inches of folid rock, and in burying 
ivejf had thrown up an immenfe quantity 
of earth to a great diftance : as it fell, a 
number of explofions were heard, about as 
loud as piftols.. In the adjacent villages 
the founds heard were taken for guns at 
fea: but at fwo adjoining villages was 
heard fomething fingular pafling thro’ the 
air, fodiftinétly, towards the habitation of 
Mr. Topham, that five or fix people came 
up, to fee if any thing extracrdmary had 
happened to his houfe or grounds. When 
the ftone was extracted, if was. warmy 
{moaked, and {melt very ttrong of fulphur, 
Its courfe, as far as could be collected 
from different’ accounts, was from the 
fouth-weft. ‘The day was mild and hazy, 
a fort of weather very frequent in the 
Wold Hills, when there are no winds or 
ftorms; but there was not any thunder or - 
lightning the whole day. No fuch fone 
is known in the country. “There was no 
eruption in the earth, and, from its form, 
it could not come from any building 5 and 
as the day was not tempeltuous, it did 
not feem probable that it could have been 
forced from any rccks, the neareft of 
which are thofe of Hamborough Head, 
at the diftance of twelve miles. The 
neareft vclcano is, probably, Hecla, in 
Iceland.+ ; 
Mr. Southey relates an account, juridi- 
cally authenticated, of a fone weighing 
ten pounds, which was heard to fall in 
Portugal, February 19, 1796, and was 
taken, ftill warm, from the ground.j 
The account and defcription of a ftone 
which fell from the ciouds in the Com- 
mune of Salles, near Ville Franche in the 
department of the Rhone, we fhall give 
from a memoir read by M. D. Bree, to the 
National Inftitute, April 11, 1803. 
* Philof. Tranf. 13802, page £74. 
+ Philof. Tranf. 1802, page 4, 174-5- 
t Letters written during a fhort refidence in 
Spain and Portugal, page 2.396 
I- On 
