Antiquity refers us to several objects as having descended from the skies, the gifts of the immortal gods. Such was the Palladium of Troy, the image of the goddess of Ephesus, and the sacred shield of Numa. The folly of the ancients in believing such narrations has often been the subject of remark; but, however fabulous the particular cases referred to, the moderns have been compelled to renounce their skepticism respecting the fact itself, of the actual transition of substances from celestial space to terrestrial regions; and no doubt the ancient faith upon this subject was founded on observed events. The following table, taken from the work of M. Izarn, _Des Pierres tombées du Ciel_, exhibits a collection of instances of the fall of aërolites, together with the eras of their descent, and the persons on whose evidence the facts rest; but the list might be largely extended. +--------------------+------------------+-------------------+-----------------+ |Substance. |Place. |Period. |Authority. | +--------------------+------------------+-------------------+-----------------+ |Shower of stones |At Rome |Under Tullus |Livy. | | | | Hostilius | | |Shower of stones |At Rome |Consuls C. Martius |J. Obsequens. | | | | and M. Torquatus | | |Shower of iron |In Lucania |Year before the |Pliny. | | | | defeat of Crassus | | |Shower of mercury |In Italy | |Dion. | |Large stone |Near the river |Second year of the |Pliny. | | | Negos, Thrace | 78th Olympiad | | |Three large stones |In Thrace |Year before J. C. |Ch. of Count | | | | 452 | Marcellin. | |Shower of fire |At Quesnoy |January 4, 1717 |Geoffroy le | | | | | Cadet. | |Stone of 72lbs. |Near Larissa, |January 1706 |Paul Lucas. | | | Macedonia | | | |About 1200 stones } | | | | | --one of 120lbs.} |Near Padua in |In 1510 |Carden, Varcit. | |Another of 60lbs. } | Italy | | | |Another of 59lbs. |On Mount Vasier, |November 27, 1627 |Gassendi. | | | Provence | | | |Shower of sand for |In the Atlantic |April 6, 1719 |Père la Fuillée. | | 15 hours | | | |