Mengxi pen talks about the aspects from which the meteorite fell to the ground

The meteorite's fall to the ground is described from the sound, brightness, and trajectory when it is in the sky, the position and power when it lands, and the size, shape, color, and weight after landing.

Original text] In the first year of Zhiping, when Changzhou Riyu, the sky was as loud as thunder, it was a big star, almost like the moon, and it was seen in the southeast. From time to time, there was a loud bang, moving to the southwest. Another shock fell in the Xu's Garden of Yixing County.

It can be seen from far and near, the fire shines brightly in the sky, and the Xu's fence is burned. It is the time when the fire breathes, and there is a hole in the ground that is as big as a cup, and it is extremely deep. Looking down, the stars are in it, and the stars are shining.

It has been dark for a long time, and it is still hot and cannot be approached. After a long time, it was more than three feet deep, and it was a round stone, which was still hot, and it was as big as a fist, and one end was slightly sharp, and the color was like iron, and it was as heavy. The state shou Zheng stretched out, sent to Runzhou Jinshan Temple, so far the box is hidden, and visitors will look at it.

Wang Wuyi is very detailed.

In the first year of the Northern Song Dynasty, in Changzhou, when the sun set, there was a loud noise like thunder in the sky, and it turned out to be a big star, almost like the moon, appearing in the southeast. After a while, there was a loud bang and moved to the southwest. After another earthquake, the stars fell in the courtyard of a family surnamed Xu in Yixing County, and people from afar and near saw it, the fire was bright and the fence of Xu's house was burned down.

Then the fire went out, and there was a cave the size of a teacup in the ground, very deep. Looking down, the stars were inside the cave, glowing faintly. It took a long time before it gradually darkened, and it was too hot to get close.

It took a long time to dig the cave, more than three feet deep, to find a round stone, still hot, the size of a fist, a little pointed at the end, the color of iron, and the weight of iron.

Changzhou's Taishou Zheng Shen got it and sent it to Runzhou Jinshan Temple for preservation. It is still hidden in a box, and when visitors get there, they open the box to show people. Wang Wuji wrote an article about this, which was recorded in great detail.

"Dream Creek Writings" includes three parts: "Writing Talk", "Supplementary Writing Talk", and "Continuing Writing Talk". The 26 volumes of the "Pen Talk" are divided into 17 categories, which are "Stories, Dialectics, Music and Rhythm, Elephant Numbers, Personnel, Official Administration, Wit, Art and Literature, Calligraphy and Painting, Skills, Instruments, Magic, Strange Things, Fallacies, Ridicule, Magazines, and Medicine Discussions". The three volumes of the Supplementary Writings include eleven of the above-mentioned items.

Continued Writings" is a volume, without division. The book consists of 609 articles (there are slight differences in different versions), covering astronomy, calendar, meteorology, geology, geography, physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture, water conservancy, architecture, medicine, history, literature, art, personnel, military, law and many other fields. Among these entries, the humanities such as anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, etc., account for about 18% of the total entries; In the natural sciences, about 36 per cent of the total is in the natural sciences, and the rest are in personnel information, military, law, and miscellaneous anecdotes, which account for about 46 per cent of the book.

In terms of nature, "Dream Creek Writings" belongs to the category of notes. In terms of content, it devotes more than one-third of the pages to the description and exposition of natural science knowledge, which is rare in notebook writings. Because Shen Kuo himself has a high scientific literacy, the scientific and technological knowledge he described is also extremely valuable, which basically reflects the scientific development level of the Northern Song Dynasty and his own research experience, so he was praised by the British scholar Joseph Needham as "the coordinate in the history of Chinese science".

Mengxi Pen Talk" records in detail the outstanding contributions of the working people in science and technology and his own research results, reflecting the brilliant achievements of natural science in ancient China, especially in the Northern Song Dynasty. Joseph Needham, a British historian of science, commented that "Dream Creek Writings" is "the coordinates in the history of Chinese science".