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 species 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 believe) wafted to Tuscany, I have nothing to affirm.

I wish to be understood to preserve mere records, the full authority 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 having 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 29th, A. D. 1630;[DD] 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 Abbé 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; concerning 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,[EE] in the beginning of his narrative, are, "These accounts put me in mind of a mass of iron, weighing seventy-one pounds, which was sent to the imperial 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 tolerably 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 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 phænomenon 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 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 Hungary, 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 Francis 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 afternoon of the day just mentioned, there was seen towards the east, a kind of fiery ball; which, after it had burst into two parts, with a great report, exceeding that of a cannon, fell from the sky, in the form, and appearance of two chains entangled 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 perceived, 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 something 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 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 therefore 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.[FF]

And I must now add that there is a record;[GG] that stones, to the number of some hundreds, did once fall in the neighbourhood of a place called Abdua; which were very