15. 1783, August 18th. A fire-ball of extraordinary magnitude was seen in Scotland, England, and France. It produced a rumbling sound like distant thunder, although its elevation above the earth's surface was 50 miles at the time of its explosion. The velocity of its motion was equal to that of the earth in its orbit, and its diameter, according to Sir Charles Blagden, was about half a mile.
16. 1790, July 24th. Between nine and ten o'clock at night a very large igneous meteor was seen near Bourdeaux, France. Over Barbotan a loud explosion was heard, which was followed by a shower of meteoric stones of various magnitudes.
17. 1794, July. A fall of about a dozen aerolites occurred at Sienna, Tuscany.
18. 1795, December 13th. A large meteoric stone fell near Wold Cottage, in Yorkshire, England. The following account of the phenomenon is taken from Milner's Gallery of Nature, p. 134: "Several persons heard the report of an explosion in the air, followed by a hissing sound; and afterward felt a shock, as if a heavy body had fallen to the ground at a little distance from them. One of these, a plowman, saw a huge stone falling toward the earth, eight or nine yards from the place where he stood. It threw up the mould on every side; and after penetrating through the soil, lodged some inches deep in solid chalk rock. Upon being raised, the stone was found to weigh fifty-six pounds. It fell in the afternoon of a mild but hazy day, during which there was no thunder or lightning; and the noise of the explosion was heard through a considerable district."
19. 1796, February 19th. A stone of ten pounds' weight fell in Portugal.
20. 1798, March 12th. A stone weighing twenty pounds fell at Sules, near Ville Franche.
21. 1798, March 17th. An aerolite weighing about twenty pounds fell at Sale, Department of the Rhone.
22. 1798, December 19th. A shower of meteoric stones fell at Benares, in the East Indies. An interesting account of the phenomenon was given by J. Lloyd Williams, F.R.S., then a resident in Bengal. The sky had been perfectly clear for several days. At eight o'clock in the evening a large meteor appeared, which was attended with a loud rumbling noise. Immediately after the explosion a sound was heard like that of heavy bodies falling in the neighborhood. Next morning the fresh earth was found turned up in many places, and aerolites of various sizes were discovered beneath the surface.
23. 1803, April 26th. The shower at L'Aigle, previously described.
24. 1807, December 14th. A large meteor exploded over Weston, Connecticut. The height, direction, velocity, and magnitude of this body were ably discussed by Dr. Bowditch in a memoir communicated to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1815. The following condensed statement of the principal facts, embodied in Dr. Bowditch's paper, is extracted from the People's Magazine for January 25th, 1834: