Produced by Meredith Bach and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) REMARKS CONCERNING STONES SAID TO HAVE FALLEN FROM THE CLOUDS, BOTH IN THESE DAYS, AND IN ANTIENT TIMES. BY EDWARD KING, ESQ. F. R. S. AND F. A. S. Res ubi plurimum proficere, et valere possunt, collocari debent. Cicero de Orat. 37. LONDON: PRINTED FOR G. NICOL, BOOKSELLER TO HIS MAJESTY, PALL-MALL. 1796. [Illustration: F.1. F.3. F.2.] _An Attempt to account for the Production of a Shower of Stones, that fell in Tuscany, on the 16th of June, 1794; and to shew that there are Traces of similar Events having taken place, in the highest Ages of Antiquity. In the course of which Detail is also inserted, an Account of an extraordinary Hail-stone, that fell, with many others, in Cornwall, on the 20th of October, 1791._ Having received this last winter, from Sir Charles Blagden, some very curious _manuscript_ accounts, concerning a surprising shower of stones; which is said, on the testimony of several persons, to have fallen in Tuscany, on the 16th of June, 1794;--and having also perused, with much attention, a very interesting pamphlet, written in Italian, by _Abbate Ambrose Soldani_, Professor of mathematics, in the University of Siena, containing an extraordinary and full detail of such facts as could be collected relating to this shower; the whole has appeared to me to afford such an ample field for philosophical contemplation, and also for the illustration of antient historic facts; that (leaving the whole to rest upon such testimony as the learned Professor has already collected together; and to be supported by such further corroboration, as I am informed is likely _soon_ to arrive in England,) I cannot but think it doing some service to the cause of literature, and science, to give to the world, in the earliest instance, a short abridgement of the substance of the whole of the information; expressed in the most concise and plainest language, in which it is possible for me to convey a full and exact idea of the phaenomenon. It may be of some use, and afford satisfaction to several curious persons, to find the whole here compressed in so small a compass. And, as I shall add my own conclusions without reserve; because the whole of the phaenomenon tends greatly to confirm some ideas which I had previously been led to form, many years ago, concerning the consolidation of certain species of stone; it may open a door for further curious investigation. And it may at least amuse, if not instruct; whilst I add a short detail of uncommon facts, recorded in antient history, and tending to shew clearly, that we are not without precedents of _similar events_ having happened, in the early ages of antiquity.