July 3, 1814. A great shower of ashes in the river St. Lawrence. Phil. Mag.
November 5, 1814. " A singular phenomenon," says a native philosopher of the spot, " has occurred in the Doab. I have heard the facts related by various persons, who all cone LI I' in the same account. The cir cumstances are as follow : On the 5th of November, be ing Saturday, while half a watch of the day still re mained, e. hall past four o'clock, P. M.) there was first of all heard a dreadful peal of thunder, and then stones rained down in sight of the inhabitants of the country, each stone being 13 or 15 sect* in weight. In the first place, wheresoever they fell a great dust rose from the ground ; and, after the dust subsided, a heap of dust was formed, and in that dust were found the stones, a piece of one of which is sent herewith.
" In the district of Lapk seven stones were found; in the district of Bahweri, dependant on Bezum Sumroo, four ; in the district of Chal, belonging to the pergun nab of Shawlif, five ; at Kabout, belonging to the per gunnah of Shawlif, five. In all nineteen stones were found." Phil. Mag. Biblioth. Britan.
About the end of September, 1815, the south Sea was covered to a great extent with dust, supposed to have proceeded from the ran of a meteor. Phil. Mag.
October 3, 1815. At half-past eight o'clock, in the morning, the sky being clear and serene, with a gentle easterly wind, there was heard a rumbling noise like the discharge or musketry and artillery. This noise, which apparently proceeded from the north-east, and from a grey cloud of an indeterminate form, which hung over the horizon, had lasted a few minutes, when a man at work in a vineyard, at some distance from C')assigny, a village situated about four leagues to the south-east of Langres, and who had his eyt, fixed on the cloud, hear ing a whistling like that of a cannon ball, saw an opaque body fall at a few paces from him, and which emitted a dense smoke. On running to the spot, he perceived a deep hole in the ground, with fragments of a peculiar sort of stone scattered around it. Having picked up
one of the pieces, he found it as hot as if it had been long exposed to the ardent rays of the sun. In conse quence of his having brought it into the village, seve ral of the inhabitants went out and collected specimens. Next day' Dr. Pistollet, physician at Langres, visited Chassigny, and having obtained one of the fragments, was struck with its resemblance to a meteorite which had been sent to him from Germany. He was, there sore, induced to repair to the spot, and collected about sixty small pieces, some of which were soft and wet, and easily crumbled in the hand ; but all seemed to have belonged to one mass. In some of them the ex ternal crust was of a deep black, and in others of a glossy chesnut-brown. On the blackest crusts eleva tions or swellings were observed, like the produce of ebullition suddenly arrested. Internally, these speci mens were grey-white, with a light greenish tint, gra nular, sufficiently soft to be scratched with a knife, composed of small brilliant and raised crystalline la minx, and of a multitude of minute black ferruginous points, heavy, not magnetic, and interspersed with dis tant small round pores.
In this instance, Vauquelin's analysis afforded, The Chassigny stones, therefore, are remarkable for their crystalline texture, for their want of nickel and sulphur, and for their more than ordinary proportions of magnesia and chrome.
April 15, 1816. Coloured snow again fell in Italy, particularly on Tonal and other mountains. It was of a brick red, and left an earthy powder very light and impalpable, unctuous to the touch, of an argillaceous odour, and sub-acid, saline, and astringent taste. Twen ty-six grains, when analysed, gave the following re sults: 1806. A stone fell at Glastonbury, in Somersetshire. Phil. Mar.
M..) 2 and 3, 1817. There is reason to believe that masses of stone fell into the Baltic, because, after the great meteor of Gottenburgli, a stream of fire was ob served from Odensee to descend rapidly into the sea, in the south-east. Chladni.