on Mondai/f the Wth of February 1850. 227 



X. From Regent's Park, as observed by J. R. Hind, Esq. 

 " I saw the meteor for a moment, but being unfavourably 



placed at the time, I could only see that it moved from below 

 a Persei towards « Cassiopeia, near which star it must have 

 been when I lost sight of it. The appearance of its light was 

 such, that in my idea no doubt can be entertained but that 

 it was of electrical origin ; it moved precisely in the direction 

 in which the wind was blowing at the time. About us, the 

 houses, &c. were as well seen as by daylight, when the sun is 

 shining brightly. The meteor occurred at \0^ 39"* mean time." 



XI. From Enstone, Oxon. The Rev. J. Jordan, the Vicar, 

 in a letter to the Astronomer Royal, says, — 



" That he had been in bed about ten minutes, when, it being 

 then about a quarter before eleven, a flash of light appeared 

 upon the window, increasing in intensity as it continued ; its 

 permanence of several seconds, proved it not to be lightning: 

 some time after the light had disappeared, a sound was heard 

 as of a dreadful explosion, which shook the window of the 

 room and the whole of the house. The sound was utterly 

 unlike thunder, even when taking effect upon any object. 



'^ The next morning, the noise of the explosion, as well as 

 the light which had been seen, were in every one's mouth ; 

 several thinking, as I had done, that some persons had come 

 under their windows with a dark lanthorn. My own servants 

 were greatly alarmed, and believed that a violent entry had 

 been made into the house, mistaking the explosion for the 

 falling of a heavy shutter. 



" Upon further inquiry, reports were given of an extraordi- 

 nary ball of fire having been seen in the air; and learning 

 that one young man had seen it under peculiar advantageous 

 circumstances, I went with him to the spot where he had seen 

 it, and had from his mouth the following details : — He had 

 gone out with a lanthorn to cut some hay from a rick, and 

 having set the lanthorn on the ground, was in the act of using 

 the knife and cutting the hay, when he found himself in a 

 blaze of light. His first fear was that from negligence he had 

 set the rick on fire, and he turned to look for his lanthorn, 

 when as he turned, his eye was caught by a large ball of fire 

 of a bluish light in the sky. It was moving steadily along 

 when it burst out with sparks of fire, and continued to do so 

 until it went down. It moved along directly in front of him, 

 so that he could distinctly point out to me its path, which was 

 about a third in height from the horizon to the zenith, in di- 

 rection nearly due north and south, and in length full one- 

 third of that part of the circle of the sky along which it was 

 moving. Having thus seen it, he was left for the instant, so 



Q2 



