erent places;
and his researches led to the important conclusion, that they are all
composed of the same substances, and in nearly the same proportions. In
1803, a notice was received at Paris, of a shower of stones at L'Aigle in
Normandy; and the Institute of France deputed M. Biot, a well-known and
excellent natural philosopher, to examine, on the spot, all the
circumstances attending this remarkable event. His account will be
noticed presently; but it may here be stated, that the stones he
collected, on being analysed, gave results similar to those obtained by
Mr. Howard.

The circumstances attending the fall of stones at Krakhut, a village
about fourteen miles from the city of Benares, are briefly as follow:--On
the 19th December, 1798, a very luminous meteor was observed in the
heavens, about eight o'clock in the evening, in the form of a large ball
of fire; it was accompanied by a loud noise, resembling that of thunder,
which was immediately followed by the sound of the fall of heavy bodies.
On examining the ground, it was observed to have been newly torn up in
many places; and in these were found stones of a peculiar appearance,
most of which had buried themselves to the depth of six inches. At the
time the meteor appeared, the sky was perfectly serene, not the smallest
vestige of a cloud had been seen since the 11th of the month; nor were
any observed for many days after. It was seen in the western part of the
hemisphere, and was visible only a short time. The light from it was so
great, as to cast a strong shadow from the bars of a window upon a dark
carpet. Mr. Davis, the judge and magistrate of the district, affirmed,
that in brilliancy it equalled the brightest moonlight. Both he and Mr.
Erskine were induced to send persons in whom they could confide to the
spot where this shower of stones is reported to have taken place, and
thus obtained additional evidence of the phenomena, together with several
of the stones which had penetrated about six inches into fields recently
watered. Mr. Maclane, a gentleman who resided near Krakhut, presented
Mr. Howard with a portion of a stone which had been brought to him the
morning after its fall by the person who was on duty at his house, and
through the roof of whose hut it had passed, and buried itself several
inches in the floor, which was of consolidated earth. Before it was
broken it must have weighed upwards of two pounds.

M. Biot's summary of the evidence