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98 ANNUAL OF SCIKNTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



that this meteor did not fall to the earth, nor was it wholly consumed, but, 

 continuing on its course, passed out of the limits of our atmosphere while 

 over the Atlantic Ocean, and resumed its original character as a wanderer in 

 the planetary spaces. 



Meteors of August Id and 6th, 18GO. A meteor rivalling in brilliancy that 

 of July 20th was extensively observed throughout the southern United States 

 on the evening of August 2d, between ten and eleven o'clock, local time. It 

 appears to have passed from east to west, vertically, over Tennessee at ten 

 minutes past ten, Knoxville time. " From three to five minutes after the 

 disappearance of the meteor, a report was heard, like the discharge of an 

 eight-pounder, which was followed by a long rolling reverberatory sound 

 of more than a minute's duration." 



Another brilliant meteor was seen in the southwest, from New Haven and 

 New York, between half-past seven and eight o'clock, on the evening of 

 August 6th. It passed from south to north, and, notwithstanding the day- 

 light still remaining, attracted attention over a wide extent of country. 



Fall of Meteoric Stones at New Concord, Ohio* About one o'clock, on the 

 first day of May, 1860, the people of Southeastern Ohio and Northwestern 

 Virginia were startled by a loud noise, which was variously attributed to the 

 firing of heavy cannon, to the explosion of steam-boilers, and to an earth- 

 quake. In many cases houses were jarred. The area over which this explo- 

 sion was heard was probably not less than one hundred and fifty miles in 

 diameter. The central point from which the sound emanated appears to 

 have been near the southern part of Noble County, Ohio. At New Concord, 

 Muskingum County, Ohio, there was first heard in the sky, a little south- 

 east of the zenith, a loud detonation, which was compared to that of a cannon 

 fired at the distance of half a mile. After an interval of ten seconds, another 

 similar report; after two or three seconds, another; and so on, with diminish- 

 ing intervals. Twent} r -three distinct detonations were heard, after which the 

 sounds became blended together, and were compared to the rattling fire of 

 an awkward squad of soldiers, and by others to the roar of a railway train. 

 These sounds, with their reverberations, are thought to have continued for 

 two minutes. The last sounds seemed to come from a point in the southeast 

 forty-five degrees below the zenith. The result of this cannonading was the 

 falling of a large number of stony meteorites upon an area of about ten 

 miles long by three wide. The sky was cloudy, but some of the stones were 

 seen first as " black specks," then as " black birds," and finally falling to 

 the ground. A few were picked up within twenty or thirty minutes. The 

 warmest was no warmer than if it had lain on the ground exposed to the 

 sun's rays. They penetrated the earth from two to three feet. The largest 

 stone, which weighed one hundred and three pounds, struck the earth at the 

 foot of a large oak tree, and after cutting off two roots, one five inches in 

 diameter, and grazing a third root, it descended two feet ten inches into hard 

 clay. This stone was found resting under a root which was not cut off, and 

 is now in the cabinet of Marietta College. About thirty other stones were 

 found, one of which had a weight of fifty-three pounds, and another of 

 thirty-six and a half; and the entire weight of all the fragments discovered 

 is estimated at about seven hundred pounds. All the stones have the same 

 general appearance. They are irregular blocks, and are covered with the 



1 From an account communicated by Prof. E. W. Evans to Siffiman's Journal. 



