that the belief in the celestial origin of
meteorites is of modern growth. In ancient times there were, no doubt,
rumours of wonderful stones which had fallen down from the heavens to
the earth, but these reports seem to have obtained but little credit.
They were a century ago regarded as perfectly fabulous, though there was
abundant testimony on the subject. Eye-witnesses averred that they had
seen the stones fall. The bodies themselves were unlike other objects in
the neighbourhood, and cases were even authenticated where men had been
killed by these celestial visitors.

No doubt the observations were generally made by ignorant and illiterate
persons. The true parts of the record were so mixed up with imaginary
additions, that cautious men refused to credit the statements that such
objects really fell from the sky. Even at the present day it is often
extremely difficult to obtain accurate testimony on such matters. For
instance, the fall of a meteorite was observed by a Hindoo in the
jungle. The stone was there, its meteoric character was undoubted, and
the witness was duly examined as to the details of the occurrence; but
he was so frightened by the noise and by the danger he believed himself
to have narrowly escaped, that he could tell little or nothing. He felt
certain, however, that the meteorite had hunted him for two hours
through the jungle before it fell to the earth!

In the year 1794 Chladni published an account of the remarkable mass of
iron which the traveller Pallas had discovered in Siberia. It was then
for the first time recognised that this object and others similar to it
must have had a celestial origin. But even Chladni's reputation and the
arguments he brought forward failed to procure universal assent. Shortly
afterwards a stone of fifty-six pounds was exhibited in London, which
several witnesses declared they had seen fall at Wold Cottage, in
Yorkshire, in 1795. This body was subsequently deposited in our national
collection, and is now to be seen in the Natural History Museum at South
Kensington. The evidence then began to pour in from other quarters;
portions of stone from Italy and from Benares were found to be of
identical composition with the Yorkshire stone. The incredulity of those
who had doubted the celestial origin of these objects began to give way.
A careful memoir on the Benares meteorite, by Howard, was published in
the "Philosophical Transactions" for 1802, while, as if to complete