418 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



west; and the length of its visible path was variously estimated from 1-5 to 

 2-") . The entire period of its visibility did not exceed one or two seconds. 

 No sound was heard at New York which could reasonably be ascribed to 

 the meteor. By taking the mean of the estimates of several observers, I 

 have determined that the point of the horizon where the meteor vanished 

 was about 21 west of south." 



At Washington, D. C., "the apparent path of the meteor was nearly per- 

 pendicular to the horizon, and its point of disappearance was estimated to be 

 four degrees north of east. Those lines of direction, as observe;! at New 

 York and Washington, intersect at a point a little north of Cape May; an 1, 

 inasmuch as at each of these stations the apparent path was nearly vertical, 

 the actual path must also have been nearly vertical, and the meteor un- 

 doubtedly struck the earth at some point not very remote from Cape Mav. 



" This conclusion is confirmed by the reports of the meteor from New 

 Jersey. The meteor was generally observed throughout the southern part 

 of that State, and was everywhere succeeded by a very remarkable explo- 

 sion. At Beeseley's Point, situated on the Atlantic Ocean, near lat. 39 20', 

 the course of the meteor is said to have been from northeast to southwest. 

 It was attended by a sudden flash of light, and left behind a curling track 

 of a smoky or light cloudy appearance, which soon vanished. About a 

 minute after the flash, there was heard a series of terrific explosions, which 

 were compared to the discharge of a thousand cannon. These explosions 

 continued for one or two minutes; they were very sharp and distinct, and 

 shook the windows and doors of the houses. These noises occasioned con- 

 siderable alarm, and by sonic were thought to have been produced by an 

 earthquake. 



" From these facts it seems almost certain that the meteor struck the earth 

 at a point a little north of Cape May. As no account of its discovery, how- 

 ever, has been received, there is reason to apprehend that it may have de- 

 scended into Avatei 1 , and probably into Delaware Bay. Analogy would lead 

 us to conclude that this belonged to the class of iron meteors, of which we 

 have numerous specimens in our cabinets. 



" The velocity of this meteor was very extraordinary. It probably struck 

 the earth at a distance of one hundred and ten miles from Washington, and 

 is said to have been first seen at an elevation of 4-3. This would make the 

 length of its visible path one hundred and ten miles, and it is said to have 

 described this path in two seconds, giving a velocity of fifty-five miles per 

 second. A small portion of this velocity (seven miles per second) may be 

 ascribed to the earth's attraction, and another portion was due to the motion 

 of the earth in its orbit, for the earth was moving obliquely towards the me- 

 teor; but there still remains an independent velocity nearly double the ve- 

 locity of the earth in its orbit. The path of the meteor in space could not 

 therefore have been a circle with the sun for its centre ; and the above ve- 

 locity is too great for any elipse or even parabola ; but such conclusions 

 must be received with caution on account of the imperfection of the obser- 

 vations ; for if we suppose the time of describing this path was three sec- 

 onds, the independent velocity of the meteor would not have been much 

 greater than that of the earth in its orbit." 



Besides this meteor, there is reason to believe that other luminous bodies 

 fell at different points on the morning of November loth, at about the time 

 above specified. The master of a sloop on the Hudson, states, in a commu- 

 nication to the New York Tribune, that a "ball of fire about as large as a 



