M. Wartmann on the Periodical Meteors of Nov. 13. 263 



spite of the distance which separated them, namely, in the one 

 case a half league and in the other more than thirteen leagues, 

 they each thought they saw the meteor fall down near them. 

 Such a fact evidently shows that this fall is by no means real, 

 and that if the meteor seemed to descend towards the horizon, 

 this circumstance without doubt is owing to the quick decrease 

 of the angle of sight which measured its apparent height, as 

 the meteor was in rapid motion away from the observers as it 

 pursued its horizontal course. 



The appearance of this isolated meteor showed a sufficiently 

 remarkable resemblance to those which for some years past 

 have been seen periodically towards the middle of November, 

 to make it desirable that an opportunity should occur of veri- 

 fying whether there are any amongst these last which really fall 

 upon our globe. 



The night of the 12th to the 13th of November, this year, 

 appeared to me proper for this interesting inquiry, from the 

 meteorological circumstances with which it was attended at 

 Geneva, and which I hastened to avail myself of. Rather thick 

 clouds completely veiled the heavens in a uniform manner ; 

 they occupied a very elevated region, where they remained 

 stationary all the night. The temperature was mild, the air 

 calm, and the darkness great, although no fog thickened the 

 transparency of the atmosphere. 



The barometer, the thermometer, the hygrometer, the mag- 

 netic needle, the ethrioscope and the etectroscope were atten- 

 tively watched at the observatory from seven in the evening 

 to seven in the morning, and their progress marked with care 

 every quarter of an hour*. At the beginning of the observa- 

 tions, at seven o'clock in the evening of the 12th, the baro- 

 meter reduced to the zero degree marked 725 mm, 08, the centi- 

 grade thermometer in the open air + 7° # 8, and Saussure's 

 hygrometer 87°. At midnight the first of these instruments 

 was at 726 mm -95, the second at + 6°-9, and the third at 93°. 

 On the 13th, at seven in the morning, the barometer marked 

 729 mnu 30, the thermometer + 5°% and the hygrometer 98°. 



To sum up, I shall say that the barometer, whose progress 

 was gradually ascending, rose in the space of twelve hours 

 of observation 4 mm -22 ; that the thermometer, whose mini- 

 mum had been + 5°% varied in the same space of time only 

 2°*6; and that the hygrometer proceeded 1 1° towards humidity. 

 As to the ethrioscope, it did not give (as might be anticipated, 



* Two of the instruments, the compass and one of the electroscopes, be- 

 long to the Cabinet de Physique of our Academic Museum ; these were 

 kindly placed at my disposal, for which my best thanks are due to the di- 

 rectors. 



