CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION 



297 



ality. Much has been written upon it 

 although no sufficient explanation has 

 yet been offered. — A. J. Henry, Execu- 

 tive Officer in Charge Research Ob- 

 servatory of the Weather Bureau, 

 Mount Weather, Virginia. 



I have at all times taken consider- 

 able interest in astronomy and have 

 studied enough of that science to be 

 able to reasonably account for all the 

 ordinary phenomena that happen to 

 appear in the sky. I towever that may be 

 it was ni}- experience on a certain oc- 

 casion to see something" so unusual 

 that it was then and has ever since re- 

 mained a puzzle to me. At the time 

 I attributed it to some form of elec- 

 tricity or what 1 suppose you in your 

 letter call a "fireball." What I saw oc- 

 curred several years ago and, as near 

 as I can now recollect, in July or Aug- 

 ust at about two or three o'clock in 

 the afternoon. I was at the time sit- 

 ting on the veranda of a house a few 

 miles from the city of Peterborough, 

 in this Province, watching a rainstorm 

 coming from the southwest. There 

 was nothing unusual either in the 

 amount of wind, rain or lightning and 

 what thunder there was, was low and 

 distant. Suddenly as I was looking 

 towards the point from which the storm 

 was coming I saw about half way up 

 the horizon a dark red ball apparently 

 the size of the moon. It seemed to 

 form instantly or else to suddenly 

 emerge from a dark cloud. There was 

 nothing dazzling about its appearance 

 and it came to the south of where I 

 was sitting, going, as it were, in the 

 same direction as the storm. The line 

 of flight was straight but in a direction 

 towards the earth. Its motion was 

 somewnai taster than the storm but not 

 so fast but what I could most distinct- 

 ly sec its shape and color and follow 

 its flight with my eye. Its speed was 

 about as fast as that of the meteors 

 seen in the months of August and No- 

 vember. I saw no sign of a trail of 

 light behind it and, had there been any, 

 I am certain I would have seen it as 

 the sky was heavily overcast at the 

 time. In front of me ran a zigzag rail 

 fence and at about one hundred yards 

 from me one end of the top rail had 

 fallen down so that the other end pro- 



jected upward two or three teet. I saw 

 the ball strike the upper end of that 

 rail and almost instantly there came 

 a crash like the discharge of a large 

 field gun. There was no sound as of 

 a body rushing through the air and 

 there were no scintillations of light 

 from the point of the rail, but that 

 ball of dull red light vanished instantly 

 the moment it came in contact with 

 that point. The concussion from the 

 sound shook every window in the 

 house and broke a pane of glass in 

 one by me. Every one in the house 

 lushed out to where I was to inquire 

 the cause. The sound was not like 

 the tearing or rending sound follow- 

 ing a close discharge of lightning. It 

 was, as I have said, just like the ex- 

 plosive sound that comes from a can- 

 non. No special downpour of rain fol- 

 lowed, although later on there were 

 some fairly vivid flashes of lightning 

 with the usual rumbling sounds 01 

 thunder. The shower lasted for about 

 half an hour longer and as soon as 

 it was over I went with others and 

 viewed the spot where the ball ap- 

 peared to strike the rail. To my as- 

 tonishment there stood the rail with- 

 out the slightest sign of a mark on it. 

 We searched the ground for some con- 

 siderable distance around and found 

 no appearance of disturbance and that 

 ball of fire has ever since remained 

 a mystery to me. At the time I thought 

 and still think the ball must have been 

 electric. What has, however, always 

 puzzled me about it was its slow rate 

 of speed — so contrary to all our ideas 

 of electricity. That ball was more 

 easily followed hy the eye than any 

 meteor 1 ever saw. If it had been a 

 meteor one would naturally have ex- 

 pected to have seen a trail of light left 

 behind it. It might be said, however, 

 to have been what is usually termed 

 an aerolite. If I understand an aero- 

 lite rightly is simply a meteor that 

 reaches the earth. If what 1 saw came 

 from the outside world then it must 

 have been brought here by the force 

 of gravitation. If it was, then it ap- 

 pears to me that by the time it reached 

 here one would have been dying at an 

 inconceivable rate of speed — so fast in- 

 deed that no eve could follow it. When 



