_(For the Mirror.)_
Of these bodies, the most general opinion now is, that they are really
of _celestial_ origin. But a few years ago, nothing could have appeared
more absurd than the idea that we should ever be able to examine the
most minute fragment of the siderial system; and it must, no doubt, be
reckoned among the wonders of the age in which we live, that
considerable portions of these heavenly bodies are now known to have
descended to the earth. An event so wonderful and unexpected was at
first received with incredulity and ridicule; but we may now venture to
consider the fact as well established as any other hypothesis of natural
philosophy, which does not actually admit of mathematical demonstration.
The attention of our philosophers was first called to this subject by
the falling of one of these masses of matter near Flamborough Head, in
Yorkshire; it weighed about 50 pounds, and for some years after its
descent did not excite the interest it deserved, nor would perhaps that
attention have been paid to it which was required for the investigation
of the truth, if a similar and more striking phenomenon had not happened
a few years afterwards at Benares, in the East Indies. Some fragments of
the stones which fell in India were brought to Sir Joseph Banks by Major
Williams; and Sir Joseph being desirous of knowing if there might not be
some truth in these repeated accounts of falling stones, gave them to be
analyzed, when it was found by a very skilful analysis, published in the
Transactions, 1802, that the stones collected in various countries, and
to which a similar history is attached, contained very peculiar
ingredients, and all of the same kind. The earthy parts were silex and
magnesia, in which were interspersed small grains of metallic iron.
Since these investigations, the subject has attracted very general
attention, and most of the fragments of stones said to have fallen from
heaven, and which have been preserved in the cabinets of the curious, on
account of this tradition, have been analyzed, and found to consist of
the same ingredients, varying only in their different proportions.
Pliny relates, that a great stone fell near Egos Potamos, in the
Thracian Chersonese, in the second year of the 78th Olympiad. In the
year 1706, another large stone is, on the authority of Paul Lucas, then
at Larissa, said to have fallen in Macedonia. It weighed 72 pounds.
Cardan assures us, that a shower of at least 1,200 stones fell in Italy,
the largest of which weighed 120 pounds; and their fall was accompanied
by a great light in the air.
The caaba, or great black stone, preserved by the Mahometans in the
Temple of Mecca, had probably a celestial origin. It is said to have
been brought from heaven by the angel Gabriel. Some astronomers imagine
that these stones have been thrown from a lunar volcano. There is
nothing, perhaps, philosophically inconsistent in this theory, for
volcanic appearances have been seen in the moon; and a force such as our
volcanoes exert would be sufficient to project fragments that might
possibly arrive at the surface of the earth. But probability is
certainly against it, and it seems more likely that they are fragments
of comets. For those bodies, from their own nature, must be subject to
chemical changes of a very violent nature; add to this, that from the
smallness of their dimensions, a fragment projected from them with a
very slight velocity would never return to the mass to which it
originally belonged; but would traverse the celestial regions till it
met with some planetary or other body sufficiently ponderous to attract
it to itself.
We have numerous other instances of these phenomena, which are attested
by many very credible witnesses, but I will not at present monopolize
more of your valuable pages with this subject, though one of
considerable interest; yet I may, perhaps, at some future period, if
agreeable, send you a few rather more circumstantial and more
interesting accounts than the above.
_Near Sheffield._