ON THE FIERY METEOR. ^ 



thatit paffed within about 30** of the zenith, to the South of It, Greateft altitude 

 and in a direaion from E S E. to W N W. by caufing thefe ^^"^^[stw. 

 perfons feparately to count one, two, three, &c. as long as 

 they thought the h'ght laded, while I looked at my watch, I 

 conclude its light lafted but five feconds, which agrees very 

 well with the two or three feconds in which ii was ftrong 

 enough to affedl perfons in a room, as mentioned by you at 

 page 279. 



During the very heavy fall of fnow on Monday evening the Flajhes ©flight 

 5th Inft. as I was returning home from Drury-Lane Theatre, ^^"^f a a o 

 I faw at diftant intervals, four or five fudden flalhes of light, 

 which attradled the notice of many perfons near me, and was 

 concluded to be lightning: has lightning been obferved during 

 the formation of fnow in the atmofphere ? The air felt rather 



warm at the time. 



/I 



Your candour will, I truft, excufe me in lamenting the too Obfervatlons 

 concife defcriptions given, at pages 218 and 21 9, of the fyphon, "j^'^ijfj^U ^^^^' 

 and of the fubftitute for a fly wheel; it has not appeared evi- Journal. 

 dent to me that the fyphon would a6l at all, without a ftop 

 cock below the funnel. Fig. 3. In line 7 of page 219 the 

 printer has evidently made fome miflake, and what is given 

 below in explanation of fig, 2, is fo far from evident, that I 

 hope you will at your leifure give a more detailed account. In 

 page 220, laft line but one, it fhould refer to Fig. 4 inftead 

 of 3. 



You will greatly oblige me by giving a place In your Journal Valuable works 

 to a paper of Mr. Playfair's in the Edin. Trans, vol. V. 1802, •'^'^^"^e^* 

 containing Theorems on the Figure of the Earth. And to a 

 paper in the Trans, of the Linnean Society, defcribing an 

 extraordinary appearance of the layers of flint in the chalk 

 (Irataof the Ifle of Wight. I am in hafle. 

 Sir, 

 Your obedient humble Servant, 



JOHN lilARCY. * 

 No. 12, Crown-Street, IVefiminjler, - 



Dec, 15, 1803. 



REPLY. W.N, 

 Having received Mr. Woulfe's communication late In the 

 Konth, I gave the account nearly in the concife words of the 

 E 2 inventor. 



