31. 1850, August 11th. A fire-ball was seen in Paris. 32. 1853, August 7th. A bolide was observed at Glasgow. 33. 1853, August 7th. A meteor twice as large as Venus was seen at Paris. 34. 1853, August 9th. A large meteor was seen to separate into two parts. 35. 1855, August 10th. A bluish meteor, five times as large as Jupiter, was seen at Nottingham. 36. 1857, August 11th. A bolide was seen in Paris. 37. 1859, August 7th. A detonating meteor appeared in Germany. 38. 1859, August 11th. A meteoric stone fell near Albany, New York. 39. 1859, August 11th. A fine meteor was seen at Athens. 40. 1862, August 8th. A meteoric stone-fall occurred at Pillistfer, Russia. 41. 1863, August 11th. An aerolite fell at Shytal, India. III. The Epoch of December 6th-13th. The following falls of meteoric stones have occurred at this epoch: 1. 1795, December 13th. At Wold Cottage, England. 2. 1798, December 13th. At Benares, India. 3. 1803, December 13th. At Mässing, Bavaria. 4. 1813, December 13th. At Luotolaks, Finland. 5. 1858, December 9th. At Ausson, France. 6. 1863, December 7th. At Tirlemont, Belgium. 7. 1863, December 10th. At Inly, near Trebizond.[18] IV. The Epoch of April 18th-26th. For this epoch we have the following aerolites: 1. 1803, April 26th. At L'Aigle, France. 2. 1808, April 19th. At Casignano, Parma, Italy. 3. 1838, April 18th. At Abkurpore, India. 4. 1842, April 26th. At Milena, Croatia. V. The Epoch of April 9th-12th. 1. 1805, April 10th. At Doroninsk, Russia. 2. 1812, April 10th. At Toulouse, France. 3. 1818, April 10th. At Zaborzika, Russia. 4. 1864, April 12th. At Nerft, Russia. The foregoing lists, which might be extended, are sufficient to establish the fact that meteoric stones are but the largest masses in the nebulous rings from which showers of shooting-stars are derived; a fact worthy of consideration whatever theory may be adopted in regard to the origin of such annuli. CHAPTER VI. PHENOMENA SUPPOSED TO BE METEORIC--METEORIC DUST--DARK DAYS. It is well known that great variety has been found in the composition of aerolites. While some are extremely hard, others are of such a nature as to be easily reducible to powder. It is not impossible that when some of the latter class explode in the atmosphere they are completely pulverized, so that, reaching the earth in extremely minute particles, they are never discovered. It is very unlikely, moreover, that of the millions of shooting-stars that daily penetrate the atmosphere nothing whatever in the solid form should ever reach the earth's surface. Indeed, the celebrated Reichenbach, who devoted great attention to this subject, believed that he had actually discovered such deposits of meteoric matter. Chladni and others have detailed instances of the fall of _dust_, supposed to be meteoric, from the upper regions of the atmosphere. The following may be regarded, with more or less probability, as instances of such phenomena: