755
 
 REMARKS 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 STONES 
 
 SAID TO HAVE FALLEN FROM THE CLOUDS, BOTH 
 
 IN THESE DAYS, 
 AND IN ANTIENT TIMES. 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD KING, ESQ.. F. R. S. AND F. A. S. 
 
 Res ubi plurimum proficere, et valere possunt, collocari debent. 
 
 CICERO DE ORAT. 37. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR G. NICOL, BOOKSELLER TO HIS MAJESTY, 
 PALL-MALL.
 
 flSAAC FOOT*) 
 LIBRARY
 
 LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CA 
 
 SAMTA BAltiiAAA 

 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 An Attempt to account for the Production of a Shower of Stones, 
 that fell in Tuscany, on the i6tb of June, 1794 ; and to shew 
 that there are Traces of similar Events having taken place, 
 in the highest Ages of Antiquity. In the course of which De- 
 tail is also inserted, an Account of an extraordinary Hail- 
 stone, that fell, with many others, in Cornwall, on the zoth of 
 October, 1791. 
 
 JTiAViNG received this last winter, from Sir Charles Blagden, 
 some very curious manuscript accounts, concerning a sur- 
 prising shower of stones ; which is said, on the testimony of 
 several persons, to have fallen in Tuscany, on the i6th of 
 June, 1794; and having also perused, with much attention, 
 a very interesting pamphlet, written in Italian, by Abbate Am- 
 brose Soldani, Professor of mathematics, in the University of 
 Siena, containing an extraordinary and full detail of such 
 facts as could be collected relating to this shower ; the whole 
 has appeared to me to afford such an ample field for philoso- 
 phical contemplation, and also for the illustration of antient 
 historic facts ; that (leaving the whole to rest upon such testi- 
 mony as the learned Professor has already collected together; 
 and to be supported by such further corroboration, as I am 
 informed is likely soon to arrive in England,) I cannot but 
 think it doing some service to the cause of literature, and 
 science, to give to the world, in the earliest instance, a short 
 
 A 2
 
 abridgement of the substance of the whole of the information ; 
 expressed in the most concise and plainest language, in which 
 it is possible for me to convey a full and exact idea of the 
 phenomenon. 
 
 It may be of some use, and afford satisfaction to several cu- 
 rious persons, to find the whole here compressed in so small a 
 compass. 
 
 And, as I shall add my own conclusions without reserve ; 
 because the whole of the phagnomenon tends greatly to confirm 
 some ideas which I had previously been led to form, many 
 years ago, concerning the consolidation of certain species of 
 stone ; it may open a door for further curious investigation. 
 
 And it may at least amuse, if not instruct ; whilst I add a 
 short detail of uncommon facts, recorded in antient history, 
 and tending to shew clearly, that we are not without prece- 
 dents of similar events having happened, in the early ages of 
 antiquity. 
 
 On the i(Sth of June, 1794, a tremendous cloud was seen in 
 Tuscany, near Siena, and Radacofani ; coming from the north, 
 about seven o'clock in the evening ; sending forth sparks, 
 like rockets ; throwing out smoke like a furnace ; rendering 
 violent explosions, and blasts, more like those of cannon, and 
 of numerous muskets, than like thunder ; and casting down 
 to the ground hot stones : whilst the lightning that issued 
 from the cloud was remarkably red ; and moved with less ve- 
 locity than usual. 
 
 The cloud appeared of different shapes ; to persons in dif- 
 ferent situations ; and remained suspended a long time : but 
 every where was plainly seen to be burning, and smoking like 
 a furnace.
 
 tsl 
 
 And its original height, from a variety of circumstances put 
 together, seems to have been much above the common region 
 of the clouds. 
 
 The testimony, concerning the falling of the stones from it, 
 appears to be almost unquestionable : and is, evidently, from 
 different persons, who had no communication with each other. 
 
 For first ; the fall of four stones is precisely ascertained : 
 one of which was of an irregular figure, with a point like that 
 of a diamond ; weighed five pounds and an half; and had a 
 vitriolic smell. And another weighed three pounds and an 
 half; was black on the outside, as if from smoke ; and, in- 
 ternally, seemed composed of matter of the colour of ashes; 
 in which were perceived small spots of metals, of gold and 
 silver. 
 
 And, besides these, Professor Soldani of Siena, was shewn 
 about fifteen others : the surfaces of which were glazed black, 
 like a sort of varnish ; resisted acids ; and were too hard 
 to be scratched with the point of a penknife. 
 
 Sign i or Andrew Montauli, who saw the cloud, as he was tra- 
 velling, described it as appearing much above the common re- 
 gion of the clouds ; and as being clearly discerned to be on 
 fire ; and becoming white, by degrees ; not only where it had 
 a communication, by a sort of stream of smoke and lightning, 
 with a neighbouring similar cloud : but also, at last, in two- 
 third parts of its whole mass, which was originally black. And 
 yet he took notice, that it was not affected by the rays of the 
 sun, though they shone full on its lower parts. And he oould 
 discern as it were the bason of a fiery furnace, in the cloud, 
 having a whirling motion. 
 
 This curious observer gives -an account also, of a stone,
 
 C 6 3 
 
 which he was assured fell from the cloud, at the feet of a 
 farmer ; and was dug out of the ground, into which it had pe- 
 netrated. And he says, that it was about five inches long, and 
 four broad ; nearly square ; and polished : black on the sur- 
 face, as if smoked ; but within, like a sort of sand-stone, with 
 various small particles of iron, and bright metallic stars. 
 
 Other stones are described by him ; which were said to have 
 fallen at the same time : were triangular ; and terminated in 
 a sort of (pyramidal) or conical figure. And others were so 
 small as to weigh not more than an ounce. 
 
 Professor Soldani saw another stone, said to have fallen 
 from the cloud, which had the figure of a parallelepiped, 
 blunted at the angles ; and was as it were varnished, on the 
 outside, with a black crust ; and quite unlike any stones what- 
 ever of the soil of the country where it had fallen. 
 
 Two ladies being at Cozone, about 20 miles from Siena, saw 
 a number of stones fall, with a great noise, in a neighbouring 
 meadow : one of which, being soon after taken up by a young 
 woman, burnt her hand : another burnt a countryman's hat : 
 and a third was said to strike off the branch of a mulberry tree ; 
 and to cause the tree to wither. 
 
 Another stone, of about two ounces weight, fell near a girl 
 watching sheep ; a young person, whose veracity it is said 
 could not be doubted. This stone, the Professor tells us, is 
 also a parallelepiped, with the angles rounded ; and its internal 
 substance is like that of the others ; only with more metallic 
 spots; especially when viewed with a magnifying glass : and 
 the black external crust appears to be minutely crystallized. 
 
 Many others, of a similar kind, were in the possession of dif- 
 ferent persons at Siena.
 
 C 73 
 
 And besides the falling of these from the cloud, there is 
 described to have been a fall of sand ; seen by keepers of cattle 
 near Cszon*, together with the falling of what appeared like 
 squibs ; and which proved afterwards to be stones, of the sort 
 just described, weighing two or three ounces : and some only 
 a quarter of an ounce. 
 
 Amongst other stones that fell; was one weighing two 
 pounds, and two ounces ; which was also an oblong parallele- 
 piped, with blunted angles, (as they are called, but which I 
 think meant plainly prismatical terminations, and are said to 
 have been about an inch in height;) and this was most re- 
 markable for having, a small circle, or sort of belt round it, in 
 one part ; wherein the black crust appeared more smooth ; 
 and shining like glass ; as if that part had suffered a greater 
 degree of heat than the rest. 
 
 Another, also, was no less remarkable, for having many 
 rounded cavities on its surface : as if the stone had been struck 
 with small balls, whilst it was forming ; and before it was 
 hardened ; which left the'r impressions. And some appear- 
 ances, of the same kind, were found on one of the four surfaces 
 of another stone, in the possession of Soldani. 
 
 On minute examination, the Professor found the stones were 
 composed of blackish crystals, of different kinds; with metal- 
 lic or pyritical spots, all united together by a kind of consoli- 
 dated ashes. And, on polishing them, they appeared to have 
 a ground of a dark ash colour ; intermixed with cubical blackish 
 crystals, and shining pyritical specks, of a silver and gold co- 
 lour. 
 
 The conclusion which Professor Soldani evidently forms, is ; 
 that tbe stones were generated in the air, by a combination of
 
 C 8 3 
 
 mineral substances, zvbicb had risen somewhere or other, AS EX- 
 HAL AT IONS, /row the earth : but, as he seems to think, not from 
 Vesuvius. 
 
 The names of many persons, besides those already referred 
 to, are mentioned ; who were eye witnesses to the fall of the 
 stones. And several depositions were made, in a regular juri- 
 dical manner, to ascertain the truth of the facts. 
 
 The space of ground, within which the stones fell, was from 
 three to four miles. 
 
 The falling of them, was the very day after the great eruption 
 of Vesuvius. 
 
 And the distance of the place, from Vesuvius, could not be 
 less than two hundred miles, and seems to have been more. 
 
 Vesuvius is situated to the south 'of the spot : and the cloud 
 came from -the north; about thirteen, or at most eighteen hours, 
 after the eruption. 
 
 Now, putting all these circumstances together, I cannot but 
 venture to form a conclusion, somewhat different from Pro- 
 fessor Soldani's ; though perfectly agreeing with his general 
 principles. 
 
 From a course of observations, and inquiries, which I have 
 been led to pursue, for a great many years : tending to eluci- 
 date the history of extraneous fossils, and of the deluge ; I have 
 long been convinced, that stones in general, and strata of rocks, 
 of all kinds, have been formed by two very different operations 
 of those elements, which the wisdom, and omnipotent hand of 
 God, has ordained, and created. 
 
 The one, by means of fire : and the other, by means of 
 water. 
 
 And, of each sort, there are two subdivisions.
 
 Of the stones, and rocks, formed by fire ; there are some, 
 (besides lavas,) whose component parts, having been pre- 
 viously fused, and in a melted state, did merely cool, and 
 harden gradually. 
 
 And there are others ; whose component parts, having been 
 fused, and in a melted state, and having so become completely 
 liquid ; did instantly, by the operation of the powers of at- 
 traction, become crystallized. 
 
 And, in like manner ; of stones, and of strata of rocks, 
 formed by means of water ; there are some, which having 
 had their component parts brought together, in a fluid state ; 
 did then merely become gradually settled ; and by the power 
 of attraction, and the mixture of crystalline particles, were 
 hardened by degrees. 
 
 And there are others : which, having had their component 
 parts, in like manner, brought together by water, did yet, on 
 account of the peculiar nature, and more powerful attraction 
 of those parts, instantly crystallize. 
 
 And both of stones, and of strata of rocks, formed by fire ; 
 and of stones, and of strata of rocks formed by means of 
 water ; there are some such, as have been slowly consoli- 
 dated by the first kind of operation ; namely by the gradual 
 cooling or settling of the substances ; which yet do contain 
 imbedded in them, crystals formed by the latter kind of ope- 
 ration. 
 
 Instances of which, we seem to have, in some granites, on 
 the one hand ; and in some sorts of limestones on the 
 other. 
 
 To this I must add also ; that there appear further, to have 
 been some stones formed by a sort of precipitation : much in the 
 
 B
 
 C 10 3 
 
 same manner as Grew describes * the kernels, and stones of 
 fruit to have been hardened. 
 
 And I have met with many instances, wherein it appears 
 unquestionably, that all these kind of processes in nature are 
 going on continually : and that extraneous substances are ac- 
 tually inclosed, and continually inclosing, which could not be 
 antediluvian ; but must have been recent. 
 
 To these short premises, I must beg leave to add ; that in 
 two papers formerly printed in the Philosophical Transac- 
 tions,*f I endeavoured, by some very remarkable instances, to 
 prove, that iron, wherever it comes into combination with 
 any substances that are tending to consolidation, hastens the 
 process exceedingly ; and also renders the hardness of the body 
 much greater. 
 
 And I have also endeavoured, elsewhere^ to shew, in con- 
 sequence of conclusions deduced from experiments of the most 
 unquestionable authority, that air, in its various shapes and 
 modifications, is indeed itself the great consolidating fluid, out 
 of which solid bodies are composed ; and by means of which 
 the various attractions take place, which form all the hard 
 bodies, and visible substances upon earth. 
 
 From all these premises then, it was impossible for me not 
 to be led to conclude ; that we have, in this august phaenome- 
 non of the fall of stones from the clouds, in Tuscany, an obvious 
 proof, as it were before our eyes, of the combined operation of 
 those very powers, and processes, to which I have been al- 
 luding. 
 
 It is well known ; that pyrites, which are composed of iron, 
 
 * In his Anatomy of Plants, p. 41 184. f Vol. LXIII. p. 241 and Vol. 
 
 p. 35. j In the Morsels of Criticism, p. 103.
 
 C 'O 
 
 and sulphur, and other adventitious matter, when laid in 
 heaps, and moistened, will take fire. 
 
 It is also well known, that a mixture of pyrites of almost 
 any kind, beaten small, and mixed with iron filings and water, 
 when buried in the ground will take fire ; and produce a sort 
 of artificial volcano. And, surely then, wherever a vast quan- 
 tity of such kind of matter should at any time become mixed 
 together, as flying dust, or ashes; and be by any means 
 condensed together, or compressed, the same effect might be 
 produced, even in the atmosphere and air. 
 
 Instead, therefore, of having recourse to the supposition, 
 of the cloud in Tuscany having been produced by any other 
 kind of exhalations from the earth ; we may venture to believe, 
 that an immense cloud of ashes, mixed with pyritical dust, 
 and with numerous particles of iron, having been projected 
 from Vesuvius to a most prodigious height, became afterwards 
 condensed in its descent ; took fire, both of itself, as well as 
 by means of the electric fluid it contained ; produced many 
 explosions ; melted the pyritical, and metallic, and argilla- 
 ceous particles, of which the ashes were composed ; and, 'by 
 this means, had a sudden crystallization, and consolidation of 
 those particles taken place, which formed the stones of various 
 sizes, that fell to the ground : but did not harden the clayey 
 ashes so rapidly as the metallic particles crystallized; and, 
 therefore, gave an opportunity for impressions to be made on 
 the surfaces of some of the stones, as they fell, by means of 
 the impinging of the others. 
 
 Nor does it appear to me, to be any solid objection to this 
 conclusion, either that Vesuvius was so far distant; or that 
 the cloud came from the north. 
 
 Bs
 
 c: i* 3 
 
 For, if we examine Sir William Hamilton's account of the 
 very erupt'on in question,* we shall find, that he had reason 
 to conclude, that the pine-like cloud of ashes projected from 
 Vesuvius, at one part of the time during this eruption, was 
 twenty-five or thirty miles in height ; and, if to this conclu- 
 sion we add, not only that some ashes actually were carried to 
 a greater distance than two hundred miles ;-f- but that, when 
 any substance is at a vast height in the atmosphere, a very 
 small variation of the direction of its course, causes a most 
 prodigious variation in the extent of the range of ground 
 where it shall fall ; (just as the least variation in the angle, 
 at the vertex of an isosceles triangle, causes a very great altera- 
 tion in the extent of its base;) we may easily perceive, not 
 only the possibility, but the probability, that the ashes in 
 question, projected to so vast an height, were first carried 
 even beyond Siena in Tuscany, northward ; and then brought 
 back, by a contrary current of wind, in the direction in which 
 they fell. 
 
 Sir William Hamilton himself formed somewhat this sort 
 of conclusion, on receiving the first intimation of this shower 
 of stones from the Earl of Bristol. J 
 
 I cannot therefore but allow my own conclusion to carry 
 conviction with it to my own mind ; and to send it forth into 
 the world ; as a ground, at least, for speculation, and reflection, 
 to the minds of others. 
 
 That ashes, and sand, and pyritical and sulphureous dust, 
 mixed with metallic particles from volcanoes ; fit for the in- 
 
 * In the Philos. Trans, for 1795, p. 91, 92. 
 
 f This is mentioned by Sir William Hamilton himself, p. 105. 
 
 J See Philos. Trans, for 1795, p. 104, 105.
 
 C is] 
 
 stantaneous crystallization, and consolidation of such bodies as 
 we have been describing, are often actually floating in the at- 
 mosphere, at incredible distances from volcanoes, and more 
 frequently than the world are at all aware of, is manifest from 
 several well attested facts. 
 
 On the 26th of December, 1631, Captain Badily, being in 
 the Gulph of Volo, in the Archipelago, riding at anchor, about 
 ten o'clock at night, it began to rain sand and ashes; and con- 
 tinued to do so till two o'clock the next morning. The ashes 
 lay about two inches thick on the deck : so that they cast them 
 overboard just as they had done snow the day before. There 
 was no wind stirring, when the ashes fell : and yet this extra- 
 ordinary shower was not confined merely to the place where 
 Badiiy's ship was ;* but, as it appeared afterwards, was ex- 
 tended so widely to other parts, that ships coming from St. 
 John d' Acre to that port, being at the distance of one hundred 
 leagues from thence, were covered with the same sort of ashes. 
 And no possible account could be given of them, except that 
 they might come from Vesuvius. 
 
 On the 23d of October, 1755, a ship belonging to a mer- 
 chant of Leith, bound for Charles Town, in Carolina, being 
 betwixt Shetland and Iceland, and about twenty-five leagues 
 distant from the former, and therefore about three hundred 
 miles from the latter, a shower of dust fell in the night upon 
 the decks.-f 
 
 In October, 1762, at Detroit, in America, was a most sur- 
 prising darkness, from day-break till four in the afternoon, 
 during which time some rain falling, brought down, with the 
 
 * See Lowthorp's Abridgement of the Philos. Trans. Vol. II. p. 143. 
 f Philos. Trans. Vol. XLIX. p. 510.
 
 C H3 
 
 drops, sulphur and dirt ; which rendered white paper black, 
 and when burned fizzed like wet gunpowder:* and whence 
 such matter could originally be brought, appeared to be past 
 all conjecture, unless it came so far oft" as from the volcano in 
 Guadaloupe. 
 
 Condamine says, the ashes of the volcano of Sangay, in 
 South America, sometimes pass over the provinces of Maca, 
 and Quito; and are even carried as far as Guayaquil.-f 
 
 And Hooke says, J that on occasion of a great explosion from 
 a volcano, in the island of Ternata, in the East Indies, there 
 followed so great a darkness, that the inhabitants could not 
 see each other the next day : and he justly leads us to infer 
 what an immense quantity of ashes must, by this means, have 
 been showered down somewhere on the sea ; because at Min- 
 danao, an hundred miles off, all the land was covered with 
 ashes a foot thick. 
 
 And now, I must add ; that such kind of falling of stones 
 from the clouds, as has been described to have happened in 
 Tuscany, seems to have happened also in very remote ages, of 
 which we are .not without sufficient testimony ; and such as 
 well deserves to be allowed and considered, on the present oc- 
 casion ; although the knowledge of the facts was, at first, in 
 days of ignorance and gross darkness, soon perverted to the 
 very worst purposes. 
 
 In the Acts of the holy Apostles, we read, that the chief ma- 
 gistrate, at Epbesus, begun his harangue to the people, by 
 saying, " Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth 
 " not bow that the City of the Epbesians is a worshipper of the 
 
 Philos. Trans. Vol. LIII. p. 54.. f Condamine's Journal, p 57. 
 
 J In his Experiments, p. 35.
 
 C 153 
 
 " great goddess Diana, and of the IMAGE wbicbfell down from 
 " Jupiter ?" (or rather, as the original Greek has it) " of THAT 
 " which fell down from Jupiter ?" And the learned Greaves 
 leads us to conclude this image of Diana to have been nothing 
 but a conical, or pyramidal stone, that fell from the clouds. For 
 he tells us,* on unquestionable authorities, that many others 
 of the images of heathen deities were merely such. 
 
 Herodian expressly declares,-f that the Phoenicians had no 
 statue of the sun, polished by hand, to express an image ; but 
 only had a certain great stone, circular below, and ending with 
 a sharpness above, in the figure of a cone, of black colour. And 
 they report it to have fallen from heaven, and to be the image of 
 the sun. 
 
 So Tacitus says,J that at Cyprus, the image of Venus was 
 not of human shape; but a figure rising continually round, from 
 a larger bottom to a small top, in conical fashion. And it is to 
 be remarked, that Maximus Tyrius (who perhaps was a more 
 accurate mathematician,) says, the stone was pyramidal. 
 
 And in Corinth, we are told by Pausanias, that the images 
 both of Jupiter Melichius, and of Diana, were made (if made 
 at all by hand) with little or no art. The former being re- 
 presented by a pyramid, the latter by a column. 
 
 Clemens Alexandrinus was so well acquainted with these 
 facts, that he even concludes || the worship of such stones to 
 have been the first, and earliest idolatry, in the world. 
 
 It is hard to conceive how mankind should ever have been 
 led to so accursed an abomination, as the worship of stocks, and 
 stones, at all : but, as far as any thing so horrid is to be ac- 
 
 Pyramidographia, Vol. I. 8991. f Lib. 5. t Lib. 2. 
 
 $ In his Corinthiaca. (j Clem. Alex. lib. I. Stromatum.
 
 C ' 6 3 
 
 counted for, there is no way so likely of rendering a possible 
 account ; as th t of concluding, that some of these pyramidal 
 stones, at least, like the image of Diana, actually did fall, itl 
 the earliest ages, from the clouds ; in the same manner as 
 these pyramidal stones fell, in 1794, in Tuscany. 
 
 Plutarch, it is well known, mentions* a stone which for- 
 merly fell from the clouds, in Thrace, and which Anaxagoras 
 fancied -f to have fallen from the sun. 
 
 And it is very remarkable, that the old writer, from whom 
 Plutarch had his account, described the cloud, from which this 
 stone was said to fall, in a manner (if we only make some al- 
 lowance for a little exaggeration in barbarous ages,) very simi- 
 lar to Soldani's account of the cloud in Tuscany. It hovered 
 about for a long time ; seemed to throw out splinters, which 
 flew about, like wandering stars, before they fell ; and at last 
 it cast down to the earth a stone of extraordinary size. 
 
 Pliny,J who tells us that not only the remembrance of this 
 event, but that the stone .itself was preserved to his days, says, 
 it was of a dark burnt colour. And though he does indeed 
 speak of it as being of an extravagant weight and size, in 
 which circumstance perhaps he was misled : yet he mentions 
 another of a moderate size, which fell in Abydos, and was be- 
 come an object of idolatrous worship in that place ; as was 
 still another, of the same sort, at Potidaa. 
 
 Livy y who like Herodotus, has been oftentimes censured as 
 too credulous, and as a relater of falsehoods, for preserving tra- 
 ditions of an extraordinary kind ; which, after all, in ages of 
 more enlarged information, have proved to have been founded 
 
 * In Vita Lysandri. f Diogenes in Anaxag. 
 
 t Historia Nat. lib. 2. cap. 59.
 
 in truth ; describes * a fall of stones to have happened on 
 mount Alba, during the reign of Tullus Hostilius, (that is 
 about 652 years before the Christian era), in words that ex- 
 actly convey an idea of just such a phenomenon, as this which 
 has so lately been observed in Tuscany. 
 
 He says, the senate were told, that lapidibus pluisse, it had 
 rained stones. And, when they doubted of the fact ; and 
 sent to inquire ; they were assured that stones had actually 
 fallen ; and had fallen just as hail does, which is concreted in 
 a storm.'f 
 
 He mentions also shortly another shower of stones,J A. C. 
 202, and still a third, which must have happened about the 
 year 194 before the Christian sera. 
 
 Such are the records of antient history. And in Holy Writ 
 also a remembrance of similar events is preserved. 
 
 For when the royal Psalmist says, || " The Lord also tbun- 
 " dered out of heaven, and the Highest gave his thunder: hail- 
 " stones, AND COALS OF FIRE," the latter expression, in con- 
 sistency with common sense, and conformably to the right 
 meaning of language, cannot but allude to some such pheno- 
 menon as we have been describing. And especially, as in the 
 cautious translation of the seventy, a Greek word is used, 
 which decidedly means real hard substances made red hot ; and 
 not mere appearances of fire or flame. 
 
 Whilst therefore, with the same sacred writer,^ we should 
 be led to consider all these powerful operations, as the works 
 
 * Lib. i. Sec. 31. f Haud aliter quam quum grandinem venti 
 
 glomeratam in terras agunt, crebri cecidere ccelo lapides. 
 
 j Lib. 30. Sec. 28. Lib. 34. Sec. 45. J| Psalm 18. v. 13. 
 
 q Psalm 148. v. 8. 
 
 C
 
 C l8 3 
 
 of God ; Who casteth forth his ice like morsels ;* and should be 
 led to consider " jftre and hail, snow and vapours, wind and storm 
 " as fulfilling his word;"-\- we should also be led to perceive, that 
 the objections to Holy Writ, founded on a supposed impossibi- 
 lity of the truth of what is written in the book of Joshua, J 
 concerning the stones that fell from heaven, on the army of 
 the Canaanites ; are only founded in ignorance, and error. 
 
 And much more should we be led to do so ; when, to these 
 observations, and testimonies, concerning showers of hot burn- 
 ing stones, is added the consideration ; that within the short 
 period of our own lives, incredibly large real hail-stones, form- 
 ed of consolidated ice ; of ice consolidated in the atmosphere, 
 have fallen both in France, and in England. 
 
 In France, on the i3th of July in the year 1788 ; of which 
 it is well known there has been a printed account : and con- 
 cerning which it is said, and has been confirmed, on good au- 
 thority, that some of the stones weighed three pounds : whilst 
 others have been said to weigh even five pounds. 
 
 And in England, on the aoth of October, 1791, in Corn- 
 wall. 
 
 Of one of the hail-stones of this latter, minor storm, I have 
 had an opportunity of obtaining, by the favour of a friend, an 
 exact model in glass ; whereof I now add an engraving. 
 
 This stone fell, with thousands of others of the same kind, 
 near Menabilly, the seat of Philip Rashleigh, Esq. ; well known 
 for his science, and attention to whatever is curious ; who hav- 
 ing great copper works, and many ingenious miners, and work- 
 men, on his estate, and directly under his eye ; caused it to 
 
 * Psalm 147. v. 17. f Psalm 148. v. 8. 
 
 t Joshua, ch. 10. v. 11.
 
 C 193 
 
 be instantly picked up : and having then, himself, first traced 
 both its top, and bottom, upon paper ; and having measured 
 its thickness in every part, with a pair of compasses ; caused 
 a very exact mould to be formed : and afterwards, in that 
 mould, had this model cast in glass : wherein, also, the ap- 
 pearances of the imbedded, common, small, roundish hail- 
 stones, are seen transparently; just as they appeared in the 
 great hail-stone itself originally. 
 
 Fig. i, is a representation of the flat bottom of the stone. 
 
 Fig. 2, is a representation of the top of the stone. 
 
 And fig. 3, shews the whole solid appearance sideways. 
 
 Whilst Mr. Rashleigh was taking the measures, it melted 
 so fast, that he could not, in the end, take the exact weight, as he 
 fully intended to have done. But as this model in glass weighs 
 exactly i ounce, 16 pennyweights, 23 grains, we may fairly 
 conclude, that the hail-stone itself weighed much above half 
 an ounce. 
 
 For it is well known, that the specific gravity of common 
 glass, of which sort this model is made, is to that of water, as 
 2.620 to i.ooo. And the specific gravity of common water, is 
 to ice, as 8 to 7.* And computing according to this stand- 
 ard, I make the exact weight of the hail-stone to have been 
 295 grains. 
 
 From the singular manner in which the small, prior, com- 
 mon hail-stones appear to have been imbedded in this larger 
 one, whilst they were falling to the earth ; there is reason to 
 be convinced, that it was formed in the atmosphere, by a sudden 
 extraordinary congelation almost instantaneously, out of rain 
 suddenly condensed, which was mingled with the common hail. 
 
 * Hooke's Experiments, p. 134. 
 C 2
 
 C 20 3 
 
 And it was very remarkable, that its dissolution, and melt- 
 ing, also, was much more rapid than that of the common small 
 white hail-stones : as was the case, in like manner, with the 
 other numerous large ones. 
 
 Perhaps it ought to be here added : that on the i8th of 
 May, in the year 1680, some hail-stones are recorded to have 
 fallen in London, near Gresham college, which were seen and 
 examined by the celebrated Dr. Hooke ; and were some of 
 them not less than two inches over, and others three inches. 
 
 This which fell in Cornwall was only about one inch and 
 three quarters long ; an inch, or in some parts an inch and a 
 quarter broad ; and between half an inch, and three quarters 
 of an inch thick. And its weight was near an ounce. How 
 much more tremendous then were those others, that have been 
 described as having fallen in France ? the accounts of some 
 of them may very probably have been exaggerated : but the 
 reality was nevertheless as wonderful, surely, as any thing re- 
 lated concerning the ages of antiquity. 
 
 A proneness to credulity is ever blameable. And it is very 
 possible, that sometimes, in a very wonderful narration, a jest 
 may be intended to be palmed upon the world, instead of any 
 elucidation of truth. But facts, positively affirmed, should be 
 hearkened to with patience : and, at least, so far recorded, as to 
 give an opportunity of verifying whether similar events do af- 
 terwards happen ; and of comparing such events one with 
 another. 
 
 To what has been said, therefore, concerning the fall of stones 
 in Tuscany, and concerning these strange showers of hail, in 
 France, and in England, it might perhaps too justly be deemed 
 an unwarrantable omission, on this occasion, not to mention
 
 C 21 j 
 
 the very strange fact that is affirmed to have happened the last 
 year, near the Wold Cottage in Yorkshire. 
 
 I leave the fact to rest on the support of the testimonies re- 
 ferred to in the printed paper, which is in so many persons' hands ; 
 and that is given to those who have the curiosity to exa- 
 mine the stone itself, now exhibiting in London ; and shall 
 only relate the substance of the account shortly, as it is given 
 to us. 
 
 In the afternoon of the 13th of December, 1795, near the 
 Wold Cottage, noises were heard in the air, by various persons, 
 like the report of a pistol ; or of guns at a distance at sea ; 
 though there was neither any thunder or lightning at the time : 
 two distinct concussions of the earth were said to be perceiv- 
 ed : and an hissing noise, was also affirmed to be heard by 
 other persons, as of something passing through the air ; and a 
 labouring man plainly saw (as we are told) that something was 
 so passing ; and beheld a stone, as it seemed, at last, (about ten 
 yards, or thirty feet, distant from the ground) descending, and 
 striking into the ground, which flew up all about him : andj 
 m falling, sparks of fire, seemed to fly from it. 
 
 Afterwards he went to the place, in company with others, 
 who had witnessed part of the phsenomena, and dug the stone 
 up from the place^ where it was buried about twenty-one 
 inches deep. 
 
 It smelt, (as it is said,) very strongly of sulphur, when it was 
 dug up : and was even warm, and smoked : it was found to 
 be thirty inches in length, and twenty-eight and a half inches 
 in breadth. And it weighed fifty-six pounds. 
 
 Such is the account. I affirm nothing. Neither do I pre- 
 tend either absolutely to believe : or to disbelieve. I have not
 
 an opportunity to examine the whole of the evidence. But it 
 may be examined : and so I leave it to be. 
 
 This, however, I will say : that first I saw a fragment of this 
 stone ; which had come into the hands of Sir Charles Blagden, 
 from the Duke of Leeds : and afterwards I saw the stone itself. 
 That it plainly had a dark, black crust ; with several concave 
 impressions on the outside, which must have been made before 
 it was quite hardened ; just like what is related concerning the 
 crusts of those stones that fell in Italy. That its substance was 
 not properly of a granite kind, as described in the printed paper; 
 but a sort of grit stone; composed (somewhat like the stones 
 said to have fallen in Italy) of sand and ashes. That it contain- 
 ed very many particles, obviously of the appearance of gold, 
 and silver, and iron ; (or rather more truly of pyrites). That 
 there were also several small rusty specks ; probably from de- 
 composed pyrites ; and some striated marks ; that it does not 
 effervesce with acids ; and that, as far as I have ever seen, or 
 known, or have been able to obtain any information, no such 
 stone has ever been found, before this time, in Yorkshire ; or in 
 any part of England. Nor can I easily conceive that such a spe- 
 cies of stone could be formed, by art, to impose upon the public. 
 
 Whether, therefore, it might, or might not, possibly be the 
 effect of ashes flung out from Heckla, and wafted to England ; 
 like those flung out from Vesuvius, and (as I am disposed to be- 
 lieve) wafted to Tuscany, I have nothing to affirm. 
 
 I wish to be understood to preserve mere records, the full au- 
 thority for which, deserves to be investigated more and more. 
 
 Having, nevertheless, gone so far as to say thus much ; I 
 ought to add, that the memorial of such sort of large stones hav- 
 ing fallen from the clouds is still preserved also in Germany.
 
 For one is recorded to have fallen in Alsace, in the midst of a 
 storm of hail, November 2Q.th, A. D. 1630 ;* which is said to 
 be preserved in the great church of Anxissem : and to be like 
 a large dark sort of flint-stone ; having its surface operated 
 upon by fire : and to be of very many pounds weight. 
 
 And another is said to be still preserved at Vienna. 
 
 This last is described by Abbe Stutz, Assistant in the Imperial 
 cabinet of curiosities at Vienna, in a book printed in German, 
 at Leipsyc, in 1790 : entitled Bergbaukimde (or the Science of 
 Mining.) 
 
 After describing two other stones, said to have fallen from 
 the clouds : one in the Eichstedt country in Germany ; and 
 another in the Bechin circle, in Bohemia, in July, 1753 ; con- 
 cerning the real falling of which he had expressed some 
 doubts; he proceeds to describe the falling of two, (whereof 
 this was one,) not far from Agram, the capital of Croatia, in 
 Hungary ; which caused him to change his opinion ; and to 
 believe, that the falling of such stones from heaven, was very 
 possible. 
 
 His words, fairly translated, -f in the beginning of his nar- 
 rative, are, " These accounts put me in mind of a mass of iron, 
 " weighing seventy-one pounds, which was sent to the im- 
 " perial collection of natural curiosities : about the origin of 
 " which many mouths have been distorted with scoffing laughter. 
 " If, in the Eichstedt specimen, the effects of fire appear tole- 
 " rably evident ; they are, in this, not to be mistaken. Its 
 " surface is full of spherical impressions, like the mass of iron, 
 " which the celebrated Pallas found on the Jenisei river; except 
 " that here the impressions are larger, and less deep ; and it 
 
 Vide Gesner. and Ans de Bcot Hist. Lapidum. 
 
 f For which translation I am obliged to Sir Charles Blagden*,
 
 C *4 1 
 
 " wants both the yellow glass, which fills up the hollows of the 
 " Siberian iron ; and the sand stone, which is found in the 
 " Eichstedt specimen ; the whole mass being solid, compact, and 
 " black, like hammered iron." 
 
 And his words in the end of the narrative are, 
 
 " There is a great step from the disbelief of tales, to the 
 " finding out the true cause of a phenomenon which appears 
 " wonderful to us. And probably I should have committed the 
 " fault into which we so naturally fall, respecting things we 
 " cannot explain ; and have rather denied the whole history, 
 " than have determined to believe any thing so incredible ; if 
 " various new writings, on electricity, and thunder, had not 
 " fortunately, at that time come into my hands ; concerning 
 " remarkable experiments of reviving metallic calces by the 
 " electric spark. Lightning is an electrical stroke on a large 
 " scale. If then the reduction of iron can be obtained, by the 
 " discharge of an electrical machine ; why should not this be 
 (t accomplished as well, and with much greater effect by the 
 " very powerful discharge of the lightning of the clouds ?" 
 
 The substance of the account of the fall of stones, in Hun- 
 gary, as given by him, after the most accurate inquiries, is 
 what I shall now add in the following abridged detail ; and it 
 was verified by Wolfgang Kukulyewich, Spiritual vicar of Fran- 
 cis Baron Clobuschiczky, Bishop of Agram, who caused seven 
 eye witnesses to be examined, concerning the actual falling of 
 these stones on the 26th of May, 1751 ; which witnesses were 
 ready to testify all they affirmed, upon oath, and one of them 
 was Mr. George Marsich, Curate, as we should call him, of 
 the parish. 
 
 According to their accounts ; about six o'clock, in the af- 
 ternoon of the day just mentioned, there was seen towards the
 
 c 353 
 
 east, a kind of fiery ball ; which, after it had burst into two 
 parts, with a great report, exceeding that of a cannon, fell 
 fromthe sky, in the form, and appearance of two chains en- 
 tangled in one another : and also with a loud noise, as of a 
 great number of carriages rolled along. And after this a black 
 smoke appeared ; and a part of the ball seemed to fall in an 
 arable field of one Michael Koturnass ; on the fall of which to 
 the ground a still greater noise was heard ; and a shock per- 
 ceived, something like an earthquake. 
 
 This piece was afterwards soon dug out of the ground ; which 
 had been particularly noted to be plain and level, and ploughed 
 just before; but where it was now found to have made a great 
 fissure, or cleft, an ell wide, whilst it singed the earth on the 
 sides. 
 
 The other piece, which fell in a meadow, was also dug up ; 
 and weighed sixteen pounds. 
 
 And it is fairly observed, that the unadorned manner in which 
 the whole account from Agram is written ; the agreement of 
 the different witnesses, who had no reason to accord in a lie ; 
 and the similarity of this history to that of the Eichstedt stone ; 
 makes it at least very probable, that there was indeed some- 
 thing real, and worth notice, in the account. 
 
 The Eichstedt stone (somewhat like that said to have fallen 
 so lately in Yorkshire) is described as having been composed of 
 ash-grey sand stone, with fine grains intermixed all through 
 it, partly of real native iron, and partly of yellowish brown 
 ochre of iron : and as being about as hard as building stone. 
 It is said not to effervesce with acids, and evidently to consist 
 of small particles of siliceous stone and iron. It had also a 
 solid malleable coat of native iron, as was supposed, quite free 
 
 D
 
 C *61 
 
 from sulphur, and about two lines thick; which quite covered 
 its surface ; resembling a blackish glazing. And the whole 
 mass exhibited evident marks of having been exposed to fire. 
 
 A plain testimony of the falling of this was affirmed to be, 
 produced as follows ; that a labourer, at a brick-kiln, in winter, 
 when the earth was covered with snow, saw it fall down out of 
 the air immediately after a violent clap of thunder ; and that 
 he instantly ran up to take it out of the snow ; but found he 
 could not do so, on account of its heat ; and was obliged there- 
 fore to wait, to let it cool. That it was about half a foot in 
 diameter; and was entirely covered with a black coat like 
 iron.* 
 
 And I must now add that there is a record ;-f that stones, to 
 the number of some hundreds, did once fall in the neighbour- 
 hood of a place called Abdua ; which were very large and 
 heavy ; of the colour of rusty iron ; smooth, and hard ; 
 and of a sulphureous smell : and which were observed to fall 
 from a vehement whirlwind ; that appeared (like that in Tus- 
 cany) as an atmosphere of fire. 
 
 Here I intended to have concluded all my observations. But 
 a recent publication, which I knew not of, when these sheets 
 were written, obliges me to add a few more pages. 
 
 In a very singular tract, published in 1794, at Riga, by Dr. 
 Chladni, concerning the supposed origin of the mass of iron 
 found by Dr. Pallas in Siberia ; which the Tartars still affirm 
 to be an holy thing, and, to have fallen from heaven ; and con- 
 cerning what have been supposed, by him, to be similar phse- 
 nomena ; some circumstances are also mentioned, which it 
 
 * This account, from Abbe Slutz, and the following from Dr. Cbladni, I received, 
 translated from the German, by the favour of Sir Charles Blagden. 
 \ Vide Cardan DcVariet. lib. 14. c. 72.
 
 would be an unjust omission not to take notice of shortly, on 
 the present occasion. 
 
 With the author's hypothesis I do not presume to interfere ; 
 but surely his facts, which he affirms in support of his ideas, de- 
 serve much attention ; and ought to be inserted, before I con- 
 clude these observations : and the rather, as they were adduced 
 to maintain conclusions very different from these now offered 
 to the consideration of the curious. 
 
 On the 2ist of May, 1676*, a fire ball was seen to come from 
 Dalmatia,* proceeding over the Adriatic sea ; it passed ob- 
 liquely over Italy ; where an hissing noise was heard ; it burst 
 SSW from Leghorn, with a terrible report ; and the pieces are 
 said to have fallen into the sea, with the same sort of noise, as 
 when red hot iron is quenched or extinguished in water. Its 
 height was computed to be not less than thirty-eight Italian 
 miles ; and it is said to have moved with immense velocity. 
 Its form was oblong, at least as the luminous appearance seemed 
 in its passage. 
 
 Avicenna mentions, (Averrhoes, lib. ado Meteor, cap. 2.) 
 that he had seen at Cordova, in Spain, a sulphureous stone that 
 had fallen from heaven. 
 
 In Spangenberg's Chron. Saxon, an account is found, that 
 at Magdeburg, in A. D. 998, two great stones, fell down in a 
 storm of thunder : one in the town itself; the other near the 
 Elbe, in the open country. 
 
 The well known, and celebrated Cardan, in his book, De Va- 
 rietate Rerum, lib. 14,. cap. 72. tells us, that he himself, in 
 the year 1510, had seen one hundred and twenty stones fall 
 
 * An account of this stone is given by Dr. Halley in the Philosophical Trans. No. 
 341 . And also there is an account of it by Montenari. 
 
 Ds
 
 C 28 3 
 
 from heaven ; among which one weighed one hundred and 
 twenty ; and another sixty pounds. That they were mostly 
 of an iron colour, and very hard, and smelt of brimstone. He 
 remarks, moreover, that about three o'clock, a great fire was 
 to be seen in the heavens ; and that about five o'clock the 
 stones fell down with a rushing noise. 
 
 And Julius Scaliger (in his book De Subtilitate Exerc. p. 
 333.) affirms, that he had in his possession a piece of iron (as 
 he calls it,) which had fallen from heaven in Savoy. 
 
 Wolf (in Lection. Memorab. Tom. II. p. 911.) mentions a 
 great triangular stone, described by Sebastian Brandt, (which 
 seems to have been the identical stone I have already men- 
 tioned as having been preserved in the church of Anxissem,} 
 and which was said to have fallen from heaven, rn the year 
 1493, at Ensisheim or Ensheim. 
 
 Muscbenbrvek* speaking of the same stone, says, that the 
 stone was blackish, weighed about 3oolb. and that marks of 
 fire were to be seen upon it ; but apprehended (in which he 
 seems to have been mistaken) that the date of the fall was 1630. 
 
 Cbladni also mentions another instance (from Nic. Huknanfii 
 Hist. Hungar. lib. 20. fol. 394.) of five stones, said to have 
 fallen from heaven at Miscoz, in Transylvania, in a terrible 
 thunder storm and commotion of the air, which were as big as 
 a man's head, very heavy, of a pale yellow, and iron, or rusty 
 colour ; and of a strong sulphureous smell ; and that four of 
 them were kept in the treasury room at Vienna. 
 
 He adds, (from John Binhard's Thuring. Chron. p. 193.) 
 that on the 26th of July, 1581, between one and two o'clock 
 in the afternoon, a stone fell down in Tburingia, with a clap 
 
 * Essai de Physique, Tom. II. sect. 1557.
 
 C 29] 
 
 of thunder, which made the earth shake ; at which time a 
 small light cloud was to be seen, the sky being otherwise clear. 
 It weighed 39lb. ; was of a blue and brownish colour. It gave 
 sparks, when struck with a flint, as steel does. It had sunk 
 five quarters of an ell deep in the ground ; so that the soil, at 
 the time, was struck up to twice a man's height ; and the stone 
 itself was so hot, that no one could bear to touch it. It is said 
 to have been afterwards carried to Dresden. 
 
 He adds, also, that in the gist Essay of the Breslau Collec- 
 tions, p. 44, is found an account by Dr. Rost ; that on the 2sd 
 of June, 1723, about two o'clock in the afternoon, in the 
 country of Pleskowicz, some miles from Reicbstadt, in Bohe- 
 mia, a small cloud was seen, the sky being otherwise clear ; 
 whereupon, at one place twenty -five, at another eight, great and 
 small stones fell down, with a loud report, and without any light- 
 ning being perceived. The stones appeared externally black, in- 
 ternally like a metallic ore, and smelt strongly of brimstone. 
 
 And I shall conclude all Chladni's remarkable facts, in ad- 
 dition to those which I had myself collected, before ever I 
 heard of his curious book, with a short summary of what he 
 calls one of the newest accounts of this kind, extracted from 
 the Histoire de I* Academic des Sciences, 1769, p. 20. 
 
 It is an account of three masses, which fell down with thun- 
 der, in provinces very distant from one another; and which 
 were sent to the Academy in 1769. They were sent from 
 Maine, Artois, and Cotentin : and it is affirmed, that when they 
 fell an hissing was heard ; and that they were found hot. All 
 three were like one another ; all three were of the same colour, 
 and nearly of the same grain ; and small metallic and pyritical 
 particles could be distinguished in them ; and, externally, all
 
 Cs 3 
 
 three were covered with an hard ferruginous coat : and, on che- 
 mical investigation, they were found to contain iron, and sul- 
 phur.* 
 
 Considering, then, all these facts so positively affirmed, con- 
 cerning these various, most curious phenomena : the explo- 
 sions ; the sparks; the lights; the hissing noises; the 
 stones seen to fall ; the stones dug up hot, and even smok- 
 ing; and some scorching, and even burning other bodies in 
 their passage ; we cannot but also bring to remembrance, what 
 Sir John Pringle affirmed to have been observed j concerning a 
 fiery meteor, seen on Sunday, the s6th of November, 1758, 
 in several parts of England and Scotland.-f 
 
 That the head, which appeared about half the diameter of 
 the moon, was of a bright white, like iron when almost in a 
 melting heat ; J the tail, which appeared about 8 in length, 
 was of a duskish red, burst in the atmosphere, when the head 
 was about 7 above the horizon, and disappeared ; and in the 
 room thereof were seen three bodies like stars, within the 
 compass of a little more than three degrees from the head, 
 which also kept descending with the head. 
 
 That before this, in another place, near Ancram in Scotland, 
 (where the same meteor was seen) one-third of the tail, to- 
 wards the extremity, appeared to break off, and to separate 
 into sparks, resembling stars. That soon after this the body 
 of the meteor had its light extinguished, with an explosion ; 
 but, as it seemed to the observer there, the form of the entire 
 
 * All these facts are to be found mentioned in Chladni's book ; first at p. 8, and 
 then from p. 34 to 37.' 
 
 f See the full account in the Philosophical Transactions, Vol. LI. for 1759, p. 218, &c. 
 
 t This is according to the account sent by the Rev. Mr. Michell, Fellow of Queen's 
 College, Cambridge, p. 223.
 
 CsO 
 
 figure of the body, quite black, was seen to go still forwards in 
 the air* By some persons, also, an hissing noise "j- was ap- 
 prehended to be heard. 
 
 Whether this might, or might not be an ignited body, of 
 the kind we have been describing, falling to the earth, de- 
 serves consideration. Sir John Pringle seems to have been 
 convinced that it was really a solid substance ; but fairly adds, J 
 that if such meteors had really ever fallen to the earth, there 
 must have been, long ago, so strong evidence of the fact, as to 
 leave no room to doubt. 
 
 Perhaps, in the preceding accounts, we have such evidence, 
 now fairly collected together ; at least in a certain degree. 
 
 I take all the facts, just as I find them affirmed. I have 
 preserved a faithful and an honest record. 
 
 For the sake of possible philosophical use ; let the philoso- 
 phical, and curious just preserve these facts in remembrance. 
 
 For the sake of philological advantage ; let the discerning 
 weigh, and judge. For (if such things be,) what has so often 
 come to pass, according to what is commonly called the usual 
 course of nature; may most undoubtedly, henceforth, without 
 any hesitating doubts, be believed to have been brought to 
 pass, on an extraordinary occasion, in a still more tremendous 
 manner, by the immediate^/ of the Almighty. 
 
 Let no man scoff; lest he drives away the means of real in- 
 formation. And let all men watch, for the increase of science. 
 
 The wisdom and power of God are far above not only 
 the first apprehensions, but even the highest ideas of man. 
 And our truest wisdom, and best improvement of know- 
 ledge, consist in searching out, and in attending diligently, 
 
 * Ib. p. 237, 265, 269, f Ib. p. 265. t Ib- P 2 7 2 -
 
 to what he has actually done : ever bearing in mind those 
 words of the holy Psalmist.* 
 
 " The works of The Lord are great: sought out of all them 
 " that have pleasure therein. 
 
 " The Lord hath so done his marvellous works, that they ought 
 " to be had in remembrance." 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 SINCE these sheets were printed, I have received from Sir 
 Charles Blagden, a present of one of the very small stones men- 
 tioned, p. 7, that are affirmed to have fallen in Tuscany ; and 
 which has very lately been brought carefully from Italy. 
 
 Its figure plainly indicates, that in theinstant of its formation, 
 there was a strong effort towards crystallization. For it is an 
 irregular quadrilateral pyramid ; whose base, an imperfect 
 kind of square, has two of its adjoining sides about six-tenths 
 of an inch long, each; and the other two, each about five- 
 tenths : whilst two of the triangular -sides of the pyramid, are 
 about six-tenths, on every side of each triangle, all of which 
 are a little curved : and the other two triangular sides, are only 
 five-tenths on the sides where these two last join. 
 
 Its black crust, or coating, is such as has been described in 
 the preceding pages : and is also remarkable, for the appear- 
 ance of a sort of minute chequer work, formed by very fine 
 white lines on the black surface. 
 
 * Psalm in. v. 2 and 4.
 
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 of an inch long, each ; ana tne otner two, eacn aoout nve- 
 tenths : whilst two of the triangular -sides of the pyramid, are 
 about six-tenths, on every side of each triangle, all of which 
 are a little curved : and the other two triangular sides, are only 
 five-tenths on the sides where these two last join. 
 
 Its black crust, or coating, is such as has been described in 
 the preceding pages : and is also remarkable, for the appear- 
 ance of a sort of minute chequer work, formed by very fine 
 white lines on the black surface. 
 
 * Psalm in. v. 2 and 4.
 
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