METEORITES OF NORTH AMERICA. 479 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



1. 1890: Howell. Description of new meteorites. — The Welland meteorite. Proe. Rochester Acad. Sci., vol. 1, pp. 



86-87 (analysis and illustration). 



2. 1891: Davison. Analyses of kamacite, tasnite, and plessite from the Welland meteoric iron. Amer. Journ. Sci., 



3deer., vol. 42, pp. 64-66. 



3. 1895: Brezina. Wiener Sammlung, p. 284. 



4. 1895: Cohen. Meteoreisen-Studien IV. Ann. K. K. Naturhist. Hofmus. Wien, Bd. 10, p. 82, 87. 



West Liberty. See Homestead. 



WESTON. 



Fairfield County, Connecticut. 

 Latitude 41° 15' N., longitude 73° 23' W. 



Stone. Brecciated crystalline chondrite (Ccb) of Brezina; Limerickite (type 32) of Meunier. 

 Fell 6.30 a. m. December 14, 1807; described 1809. 



Weight: A shower of stones, the largest weighing about 90 kgs. (200 lbs.). The weights 

 recorded by Silliman and Kingsley give a total of about 135 kgs. (300 lbs.). 



The phenomena of this fall were fully described by Professors Silliman and Kingsley, and 

 their account was printed in full or in abstract in several places. The full account which they 

 gave is as follows : ' 



The meteor, which has so recently excited alarm in many and astonishment in all, first made its appearance in 

 Weston, about a quarter or half past 6 o'clock, a. m., on Monday, the 14th inst. [December, 1807]. The morning was 

 somewhat cloudy; the clouds were dispersed in unequal masses, being in some places thick and opaque, in others 

 light, fleecy, and partially transparent; while spots of unclouded sky appeared here and there among them. Along 

 the northern part of the horizon, a space of 10° or 15° was perfectly clear. The day had merely dawned and there was 

 little or no light, except for the moon, winch was just setting. Judge Wheeler, to whose intelligence and observation, 

 apparently uninfluenced by fear or imagination we are indebted for the substance of this part of our account, was 

 passing through the inclosure adjoining his house with his face to the north and his eyes on the ground when a sudden 

 flash, occasioned by the transition of a luminous body across the northern margin of the clear sky, illuminated every 

 object and caused him to look up. He immediately discovered a globe of fire just then passing behind the first, cloud 

 which was very dark and obscure, although it did not entirely hide the meteor. 



In this situation its appearance was distinct and well defined, like that of the sun. seen through a mist. It rose 

 from the north and proceeded in a direction nearly perpendicular to the horizon, but inclining by a very small 

 angle to the west and deviating a little from the plane of a great circle but in pretty large curves, sometimes on one 

 side of the plane and sometimes on the other, but never making an angle with it of more than 4° or 5°. It appeared 

 about one-half or two-thirds the diameter of the full moon. This description of its apparent magnitude is vague, but 

 it was impossible to ascertain what angle it subtended. Its progress was not so rapid as that of common meteors and 

 shooting stars. When it passed behind the thinner clouds it appeared brighter than before, and when it passed the 

 spots of clear sky it flashed with a vivid light, yet not so intense as the lightning in a thunderstftrm but rather like what 

 is commonly called heat lightning. Its surface was apparently convex. 



Where it was not too much obscured by thick clouds, a conical train of paler light was seen to attend it, waving, 

 and in length about 10 or 12 diameters of the body. In the clear sky a brisk scintillation was observed about the 

 body of the meteor, like that of a burning firebrand carried against the wind. 



It disappeared about 15° short of the zenith and about the same number of degrees west of the meridian. It did 

 not vanish instantaneously, but grew pretty rapidly fainter and fainter, as a red-hot cannon ball would do, if cooling 

 in the dark, only with much more rapidity. 



There was no peculiar smell in the atmosphere, nor were any luminous masses seen to separate from the body. 

 The whole period, between its first appearance and total extinction, was estimated at about 30 seconds. 



About 30 or 40 seconds after this, three loud and distinct reports, like those of a 4-pounder near at hand, were 

 heard. They succeeded each other with as much rapidity as was consistent with distinctness, and all together did 

 not occupy 3 seconds. Then followed a rapid succession of reports, less loud and running into each other so as to pro- 

 duce a continued rumbling, like that of a cannon ball rolling over a floor, sometimes louder and at other times fainter; 

 some compared it to the noise of a wagon running rapidly down a long and stony hill ; or to a volley of musketry pro- 

 tracted into what is called, in military language, a running fire. This noise continued about as long as the body was 

 in rising, and died away apparently in the direction from which the meteor came. 



The accounts of others correspond substantially with this. Time was differently estimated by different people, 

 but the variation was not material. Some augmented the number of loud reports, and terror and imagination seem, 

 in various instances, to have magnified every circumstance of the phenomenon. 



