parts of India, I inquired whether he had ever heard of any instances similar to the explosion of the meteor at Benares in 1798. He told me, he could not recollect having heard or read of any other instance, excepting one in the Memoirs written by the Emperor JEHANGIRE, and of that he did not recollect the particulars. A few days after, having found the passage in the original Persian, he was so obliging as to translate it. I consider it as an authentic fact; for the Emperor JEHANGIRE was not a prince on whom his courtiers would idly venture to impose; and there can be little probability that an Aumil of a district should invent such a story, or be able to produce a substance apparently like iron, but which, on trial, differed from manufactured iron. Colonel KIRKPATRICK's translation, I have obtained his leave to communicate, with his attestation, to the Royal Society. Extract from the Memoirs of the Emperor Jehangire, written (in Persian) by himself, and translated by Colonel Kirkpatrick. A. H. 1030, or 16th year of the reign.-The following is among the extraordinary occurrences of this period. Early on the goth of Furverdeen, of the present year,* and in the Eastern quarter, [of the heavens] there arose in one of the villages of the Purgunnah of Jalindher,† such a great and tremendous noise as had nearly, by its dreadful nature, deprived the inhabitants of the place of their senses. During this noise, a luminous body [was observed] to fall from above on the * The first of Furverdeen of this year, (A. H. 1030,) corresponded with Saturday, the 27th of Rubbi ul Akhir; consequently, the 30th of Furverdeen fell on the 26th of Jummad ul Ouwul, or A. D. 1620. A purgunnah is a territorial division, of arbitrary extent. The purgunnah of Jalindber is situated in the Punjaub, and about 100 miles S. E. of Lahore. earth, suggesting to the beholders the idea that the firmament was raining fire. In a short time, the noise having subsided, and the inhabitants having recovered from their alarm, a courier was dispatched [by them] to MAHOMMED SYEED, the Aumil* of the aforesaid Purgunnah, to advertise him of this event. The Aumil, instantly mounting, [his horse,] proceeded to the spot, [where the luminous body had fallen]. Here he perceived the earth, to the extent of ten or twelve guz,† in length and breadth, to be burnt to such a degree, that not the least trace of verdure, or a blade of grass remained; nor had the heat [which had been communicated to it] yet subsided entirely. MAHOMMED SYEED hereupon directed the aforesaid space of ground to be dug up; when, the deeper it was dug the greater was the heat of it found to be. At length, a lump of iron made its appearance, the heat of which was so violent, that one might have supposed it to have been taken from a furnace. After some time it became cold; when the Aumil conveyed it to his own habitation, from whence he afterwards dispatched it, in a sealed bag, to court. + Here I had [this substance] weighed in my presence, Its weight was one hundred and sixty tolahs. I committed it to a skilful artisan, with orders to make of it a sabre, a knife, and a dagger. The workman [soon] reported, that the substance was not malleable, but shivered into pieces under the hammer. § Upon this, I ordered it to be mixed with other iron. Con • Aumil is a manager or fiscal superintendant of a district. A guz is rather less than a yard. A tolah is about 180 grains, Troy weight. § Literally, "it did not stand beneath the hammer, but fell to pieces." formably to my orders, three parts of the iron of lightning* were mixed with one part of common iron; and from the mixture were made two sabres, one knife, and one dagger. By the addition of the common iron, the [new] substance acquired a [fine] temper; the blade [fabricated from it] proving as elastic as the most genuine blades of Ulmanny,† and of the South, and bending, like them, without leaving any mark of the bend. I had them tried in my presence, and found them cut excellently; as well [indeed] as the best genuine sabres. One of these sabres I named Katai, or the cutter; and the other Burk-serisht, or the lightning-natured. A poet composed and presented to me, on this occasion, the following tetrastich. “This earth has attained order and regularity through the Emperor JEHANGIRE: "In his time fell raw iron from lightning: "That iron was, by his world-subduing authority, The chronogram of this occurrence is contained in the words lable, which signify "the flame of the imperial lightning;" and give the year (of the Hegera) 1030. N. B. The foregoing translation (which is nearly literal) has been made from a manuscript that has been several years in my possession; and which, although without date, bears marks of having been written at a remote period. WM. KIRKPATRICK. • This expression is equivalent to our term thunder-bolt. The name of the place here designed is doubtful. 1 The poet is named in the original; but the name is not perfectly legible. VII. Observations on the Structure of the Tongue; illustrated by Cases in which a Portion of that Organ has been removed by Ligature. By Everard Home, Esq. F. R. S. Read February 3, 1803. PHYSIOLOGICAL inquiries have ever been considered as deserving the attention of this learned Society; and, whenever medical practitioners, in the treatment of diseases, have met with any circumstance which threw light upon the natural structure or actions of any of the organs of the human body, or those of other animals, their communications have met with a favourable reception. The following observations derive their real importance from offering a safe and effectual means of removing a portion of the tongue, when that organ has taken on a diseased action, the cure of which is not within the reach of medicine; and, as the tongue, like many other glandular structures, is liable to be affected by cancer, it becomes of no small importance that the fact should be generally known. In a physiological view, they tend to show, that the internal structure of the tongue is not of that delicate and sensible nature which, from its being the organ of taste, we should be led to imagine. The tongue is made up of fasciculi of muscular fibres, with an intermediate substance met with in no other part of the body, and a vast number of small glands; it has large nerves passing through it; and the tip possesses great sensibility, fitting it for the purpose of taste. Whether the sense of taste is confined entirely to the point of the tongue, and the other parts are made up of muscles fitted for giving it motion; or whether the whole tongue is to be considered as the organ, and the soft matter which pervades its substance, and fills the interstices between the fasciculi of muscular fibres, is to be considered as connected with sensation, has not, I believe, been ascertained. The tongue, throughout its substance, has always been considered by physiologists as a very delicate organ; and it was believed, that any injury committed upon it would not only produce great local irritation, but also affect, in a violent degree, the general system of the body. This was my own opinion, till I met with the following case, the circumstances of which induced me to see this organ in a different point of view. A gentleman, by an accident which it is unnecessary to describe, had his tongue bitten with great violence The immediate effect of the injury was great local pain; but it was not attended with much swelling of the tongue itself, nor any other symptom, except that the point of the tongue entirely lost its sensibility, which deprived it of the power of taste: whatever substance the patient eat was equally insipid. This alarmed him very much, and induced him to state to me the circumstances of his case, and request my opinion. I examined the tongue, a fortnight after the accident. It had the natural appearance, but the tip was completely insensible, and was like a piece of board in his mouth, rendering the act of eating a very unpleasant operation. I saw him three months afterwards, and it was still in nearly the same state. From this case it appears, that the tongue itself is not particularly irritable; but the nerves passing through its substance |