"Sed falsò lapidis pluviam creas tu ex pulvere hausto à nubibus, atque in lapidem condensato. At ferrum, quod pluit in Taurinis, cuius frustum apud nos extat, qua ex fodina sustulit nubes? Tribus circiter annis antè, quàm ab Rege provincia illa recepta esset, pluit ferro multis in locis, sed raris" (p. 434, Editio Lutetiæ, 1557). "During the latter ages of the Roman Empire the _city_ of Augusta Taurinorum seems to have been commonly known (as was the case in many instances in Transalpine Gaul) by the name of the tribe to which it belonged, and is called simply Taurini in the Itineraries, as well as by other writers, hence its modern name of Torino or Turin" (Smith's _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geographies_, p. 1113). There exists a considerable literature respecting falls of meteors and of meteoric iron. Livy, Plutarch, and Pliny all record examples. See also _Remarks concerning stones said to have fallen from the clouds_, by Edward King (London, 1796); Chladni, _Ueber den Ursprung der von Pallas gefundenen und anderer ihr ähnlicher Eisenmassen_ (Riga, 1794); _Philosophical Transactions_, vol. lxxviii., pp. 37 and 183; vol. lxxxv., p. 103; vol. xcii., p. 174; Humboldt's _Cosmos_, vol. i. (p. 97 of London edition, 1860); C. Rammelsberg, _Die chemische Natur der Meteoriten_ (Berlin, 1879); Maskelyne, _Some lecture-notes on Meteorites_ printed in _Nature_, vol. xii., pp. 485, 504, and 520, 1875. Maskelyne denominates as _siderites_ those meteorites which consist chiefly of iron. They usually contain from 80 to 95 per cent. of iron, often alloyed with nickel. This meteoric iron is sometimes so pure that it can at once be forged by the smith. An admirable summary of the whole subject is to be found in L. Fletcher's _An Introduction to the study of Meteorites_, publisht by the British Museum (Nat. Hist.), London, 1896. [81] PAGE 27, LINE 3. Page 26, line 41. _vt Cardanus ... scribit._--The passage runs: "Vidimus anno MDX cum cecidisset è coelo lapides circiter MCC in agrum fluvio Abduæ conterminum, ex his unum CXX pondo, alium sexaginta delati fuerunt ad reges Gallor[~u] satrapes, plurimi: colos ferrugineus, durities eximia, odor sulphureus" (Cardan, _De Rerum Varietate_, lib. xiiii., cap. lxxii.; Basil., 1557, p. 545). [82] PAGE 27, LINE 9. Page 27, line 2. _aut stannum, aut plumbum album._ Although most authorities agree in translating _plumbum album_ or _plumbum candidum_ as "tin" (which is unquestionably the meaning in such examples as Pliny's _Nat. Hist._, xxxiv. 347, and iv. 16; or Strabo, iii. 147), nevertheless it is certain that here _plumbum album_ is not given as a synonym of _stannum_ and therefore is not _tin_. That Gilbert meant either spelter or pewter is pretty certain. He based his metallic terms mainly upon Encelius (Christoph Entzelt) whose _De Re Metallica_ was published at Frankfurt in 1551. From this work are taken the following passages: {27} p. 61. _De Plumbo candido._ Cap. XXXI.