Many ancient peoples held meteorites in great reverence, particularly if they were seen to fall. But at the same time, other more practical-minded individuals made good use of the durable and easily worked alloy provided by nature in the nickel-iron meteorites. This alloy was frequently used to make ax-heads, spear and harpoon points, knives, farming tools, stirrups and spurs, and even pots and other utensils. Archeologists have found earrings and similar ornaments overlaid with thin sheets of hammered meteoritic iron in Indian mounds of the Ohio Valley. They have also discovered round beads made of nickel-iron in Indian mounds of the Havana, Illinois, area and in the still more ancient Egyptian ruins at Gerzah. Meteoritic iron has often been used in the manufacture of special swords, daggers, and knives for members of the royalty. Atilla and other early conquerors of Europe boasted of “swords from heaven.” Emperor Jehangir (1605-1627) ordered two sword blades, a knife, and a dagger to be smelted from the Jalandhar, India, meteorite, which fell on April 10, 1621. In the early nineteenth century, a sword was manufactured from a portion of the Cape of Good Hope meteorite for presentation to Alexander, the Emperor of Russia. Even as late as the end of the nineteenth century, several swords were made from a part of the Shirihagi, Japan, iron meteorite at the command of a member of the Japanese court. [Illustration: A Russian artist’s pen-and-ink drawing of an extremely brilliant detonating fire ball or bolide. See page 102.] In the Europe of the Middle Ages, meteorite falls and meteor showers, as well as other “unnatural” events like comets, eclipses, and displays of the aurora borealis, were regarded with superstitious awe by commoner and king alike. The medieval mind always sought to interpret events connected in any way with the heavens as somehow influencing the affairs of men. A bishop explained that the great meteor shower of April 4, 1095, forecast “the changes and wanderings of nations from kingdom to kingdom.” The fact, however, that the First Crusade began within a year, is mere coincidence. In referring to celestial events, Shakespeare often expressed the view that was common in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. An example is: The bay-trees in our country are all wither’d And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven; The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth And lean-look’d prophets whisper fearful change, . . . . . . These signs forerun the death or fall of kings. (_Richard II_, II, iv, 8-11, 15)