Some new statements attracted the attention of scientific men in England and on the Continent, to the subject, about the beginning of the present century, and the conclusion of their researches was, that stones of various sizes do, in reality, not unfrequently fall from above to the earth. It appears that sometimes they fall singly, and at other times in great numbers. I will relate to you some particular instances. Near Benares, in the East Indies, in the month of December in the year 1798, a very bright meteor seemed to fall to the earth, about 8 o'clock in the evening, and a loud noise like thunder was heard, which was followed by a shock like the fall of heavy bodies. No cloud was to be seen in the sky. The light of the meteor was so great as to cast very distinct shadows of the objects in its way. The ground where it appeared to have fallen, was afterwards examined, and was found to be strangely torn up, having a number of small holes in it about six inches deep. At the bottom of each hole was an aerolite weighing on the average about one pound and a half. In the year 1803, a similar event took place in Normandy. The meteor, when first seen, must have been at a very great elevation, for the inhabitants of two places more than a league distant from each other, thought it was just over their respective towns. A hissing noise was also heard, like that of a stone hurled by a sling. The space over which the stones were dispersed, must have been more than eight miles long and three wide. There were about two thousand of them collected, of various weights, from two drachms to seventeen pounds. Two stones, one of which weighed 200 and the other 300 pounds, fell in the year 1668, at Verona. In 1680, several small ones are said to have fallen in London. In 1628, several fell near Hatford, in Berkshire, one of which weighed twenty-four pounds. In 1795, one weighing fifty-five pounds, fell in Yorkshire. In 1810, a large aerolite fell, which was the means of setting fire to five villages, and killing several persons, in India. The largest of these are, however, small compared with some which are said, and there is good reason to believe, to have fallen from the sky, at some time or other. One of these, now at Bahia, in Brazil, weighs 14,000 pounds. This is a cut of an aerolite in the British Museum, which fell in Buenos Ayres. It weighs 1,400 pounds. [Illustration]