1803.] On Stones, &Sc. faid to have fallen from the Clouds: 
3d. That after this noife, by which 
the animals were as much frightened as 
the inhabitants, there were feen .to fall, 
with a hiffing noife, tones, very much 
{cattered, and of different fizes, from two 
or three gros to feventeen pounds weight ; 
that thefe ftones, at firft, exhaled a ftrong 
{mell of fulphur, and fome of them were 
warm when picked up ; and that to judge 
by the number collected, and by the ex- 
tent of the ground on which they were 
found, an aftonifhing quantity muft have 
fallen.” 
The account given by C. Biot, member 
of the National Inftitute, who proceeded 
to L’Aigle to examine and compare faéts, 
is ftill more particular. He fays, ‘* The 
weather being ferene, there was obferved 
from Caen, Pont-Audemer, and the en- 
virons of Alencon, Falaife, and Veneuil, 
a fiery globe of a very brilliant {plendour, 
which moved in the atmofphere with 
great rapidity. Some moments after, there 
was heard at L’Aigle, and to the extent 
of more than thirty leagues in every direc- 
tion, a violent explofion, which lafted 
five or fix minutes. 
‘¢ At firft there were three or four re- 
ports like thofe of a cannon, followed by 
a kind of difeharge, which refembled a 
firing of mufketry ; after which there was 
heard a dreadful rumbling like the beat. 
ing of a drum. . 
“« This noife proceeded from a fmall 
eloud, which had areStangular form, and 
which appeared motionleis all the time 
that the phenomenon lafted. But the 
vapour of which it was compofed was 
projeted momentarily from the different 
fides, by the effett of the fucceffive explo- 
fions. This cloud was about half a league 
to the N. N.E. of the town, and it was 
evidently at a great elevation in the at- 
miofphere, for the inhabitants of two 
hamlets, a league diftant from each other, 
faw it at the fame time above their heads. 
In the whole canton over which this cloud 
hovered, a hiffing noife, like that of a 
ftone difcharged from a fling, was heard, 
and a multitude, more than two or three 
thoufand, of mineral mafles, exactly fimilar 
to thole diftinguifhed by the name of me- 
teoric flunes, were feen to fall at the fame 
time.” 
In fthewing the high probability there is 
that thefe tacts are founded in truth, C. 
Biot fays: **I faw the awful traces of 
this phenomenon; I traverfed all the 
places where it had been heard; I col- 
Jeéted and compared the accounts of the 
_ihabitants: at laft I found fome of the 
© 
ftones themfilves on the fpot, and they ex- 
Montuty Mac, No, 108. 
437 
hibited to me phyfical characters, which 
admit of no doubt of the reality of their 
fall. 
“If we firft confider the phyfcal tefti- 
monics, no meteoric {tones had been found 
in the hands of the inhabitants before the 
explofion of the 26th of April. The mi- 
neralogical collections, formed on the {pot 
with the greateft care for feveral years, 
contained nothing of the kind. 
<¢ The founderies, iron works, and mines, 
in the neighbourhoed, which I vifited, ex- 
hibited nothing in their productions or in 
their {coriz which had the leaft affinity to 
thefe fubfances. No traces of a volcano 
are found in the country. 
‘© All of a fudden, and only fince the 
time of the meteor, thefe ftones have been 
found on the ground and in the hands of 
the inhabitants, who are better acquainted 
with them than any other perfon, 
«« Thele ftones are found only ina cer- 
tain extent, in ground foreign to the fub- 
{tances they contain, and in places where, 
en account of ther fize and their number, 
it is impoffible they could have efcaped 
notice. 
«¢ The largeft of thefe ftones, when 
broken, ftill exhale a ftrong fulphurous 
odour from their interior parts. That of 
their furface has vanifhed, and the fmalleft 
exhale no fenfible odour, fo that the odour 
of the former feems alfo, from its natures 
likely to be diffipated in the courfe of 
time. 
«¢ Thefe are fo many phyfical proofs, 
which atteft that the meteoric ftones of 
the neighbourhood of L’Aigle are foreign 
to the places where they have been found ; 
that they were conveyed thither exactly at 
the time of the explofion, and by a caule 
which has medified the principles they 
contain, 
‘¢ Tf wenow confult the moral teftima- 
nies, what do we find ? Twenty hamlets, 
difperfed in an extent of more than two 
leagues fquare, almoft all the inhabitants 
of which declare themfelves to have been 
eye-witnefles of the meteor, atteft that a 
dreadful fhower of ftones was projected 
from it. Among the number, there are 
men, women, and children. They are 
fimple and unlettered peafants, labourers 
poflefled of firong natural fenfe and rea- 
fon; refpectable ecciefiaftics, and young 
people, who, having been military men, 
are free from the illufions of fear. All 
thefe perfons, of profeflions, manners, and 
opinions fo different, who had very little 
or no intercourfe with each other, agree 
in atteliing the fame faét, which they had 
no intereft to invent: they all refer it to 
aL the 
