may simply arise from electricity, or from the
inflammable gases, it is now certain, from the proved descent of
aerolites, that such bodies are of extra-terrestrial origin.

Antiquity refers us to several objects as having descended from the
skies, the gifts of the immortal gods. Such was the Palladium of Troy,
the image of the goddess of Ephesus, and the sacred shield of Numa. The
folly of the ancients in believing such narrations has often been the
subject of remark; but, however fabulous the particular cases referred
to, the moderns have been compelled to renounce their skepticism
respecting the fact itself, of the actual transition of substances from
celestial space to terrestrial regions; and no doubt the ancient faith
upon this subject was founded on observed events. The following table,
taken from the work of M. Izarn, _Des Pierres tombees du Ciel_, exhibits
a collection of instances of the fall of aerolites, together with the
eras of their descent, and the persons on whose evidence the facts rest;
but the list might be largely extended.

+--------------------+------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|Substance. |Place. |Period. |Authority. |
+--------------------+------------------+-------------------+-----------------+
|Shower of stones |At Rome |Under Tullus |Livy. |
| | | Hostilius | |
|Shower of stones |At Rome |Consuls C. Martius |J. Obsequens. |
| | | and M. Torquatus | |
|Shower of iron |In Lucania |Year before the |Pliny. |
| | | defeat of Crassus | |
|Shower of mercury |In Italy | |Dion. |
|Large stone |Near the river |Second year of the |Pliny. |
| | Negos, Thrace | 78th Olympiad | |
|Three large stones |In Thrace |Year before J. C. |Ch. of Count |
| | | 452 | Marcellin. |
|Shower of fire |At Quesnoy |January 4, 1717 |Geoffroy le |
| | | | Cadet. |
|Stone of 72lbs. |Near Larissa, |January 1706 |Paul Lucas. |
|