FALLING SICKNESS. See EPILEPSY.
FALLING or SHOOTING STAR, a luminous meteor which appears suddenly darting through the air. Falling stars occur at all seasons, but most frequently in the latter part of autumn, especially during the prevalence of the aurora borealis, and most commonly in the lower regions of the atmosphere. These phenomena are now generally supposed to depend on electricity.
Sir Humphrey Davy, however, in a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, gave many reasons against this theory; conceiving that they are rather to be attributed to falling stones. It may also be mentioned that Chladni, in his work on Fiery Meteors (Vienna 1819), considers them as solid bodies formed above the regions of our atmosphere, and classes them with aerolites. Some consider them as extreme portions of the zodiacal light occasionally crossing the earth's orbit. It has been observed that when falling stars appear in great numbers, the direction of their course is similar. See ELECTRICITY, and METEOROLITE.