shall fall; (just as the least variation in the angle, at the vertex of an isosceles triangle, causes a very great alteration in the extent of its base;) we may easily perceive, not only the possibility, but the probability, that the ashes in question, projected to so vast an height, were first carried even beyond Siena in Tuscany, northward; and then brought back, by a contrary current of wind, in the direction in which they fell.
Sir William Hamilton himself formed somewhat this sort of conclusion, on receiving the first intimation of this shower of stones from the Earl of Bristol.[F]
I cannot therefore but allow my own conclusion to carry conviction with it to my own mind; and to send it forth into the world; as a ground, at least, for speculation, and reflection, to the minds of others.
That ashes, and sand, and pyritical and sulphureous dust, mixed with metallic particles from volcanoes; fit for the instantaneous crystallization, and consolidation of such bodies as