do assemble in the greatest numbers; and
do, at this time of the year, feed upon these berries; and digesting
the outward pulp, they render these seeds by casting, as hawks do
feathers and bones."

The remarkable showers already noticed, have excited much interest and
inquiry among learned men, and many superstitious fears among the
ignorant; but, there is another description of shower which affords a
singular instance of popular observation, being greatly in advance of
scientific knowledge. We allude to the showers of stones, called
"aerolites," (from two Greek words, signifying the _atmosphere_, and a
_stone_); they are also called _Meteorolites_, or _Meteoric stones_.

Writers in all ages have mentioned instances of stony bodies having been
seen to fall from the sky. The Chinese and Japanese carefully note down
the most striking and remarkable phenomena of nature, believing them to
have some connexion with public affairs; and the chronicles of these
people are said to contain many notices of the fall of stony bodies from
the sky. Until within the last fifty years, however, these accounts have
been treated in Europe as idle superstitions; scientific men denying even
the probability of such an occurrence. The first scientific man who was
bold enough to support the popular opinion, that stones actually do fall
from the sky, was Chladni, a German philosopher, who published a pamphlet
on the subject in 1794. This did not excite much attention, until, two
years afterwards, a stone weighing fifty-six pounds was exhibited in
London, which was said to have fallen in Yorkshire in the December of the
preceding year; but, although the fact was attested by several
respectable persons, the possibility of such an occurrence was still
doubted. It was remarked, however, by Sir Joseph Banks, that this stone
was very similar in appearance to one which had been sent to him from
Italy, with an account of its having fallen from the clouds. In the year
1799, a number of stones were received by the Royal Society, from
Benares, in the East Indies, which were also said to have fallen from the
atmosphere, with a minute account of the circumstances attending the
fall, which will be presently noticed; and, as these stones appeared to
be precisely similar to the Yorkshire stone already noticed, attention
was fairly drawn to the subject. In 1802, Mr. Howard published an
analysis of a variety of these stones collected from diff