on Monday^ the nth qf February If^BO. 231 



"4. Duration of the light, about twenty seconds. 



" 5. The explosion was like that of a rocket ; and fragments 

 are described as being seen falling, though not luminous. 



" 6. The detonation was heard from seventy to ninety se- 

 conds after the explosion — I think not less than ninety. The 

 noise was like that of the crash of a falling building, or, as one 

 person describes it, as though a quantity of horses had broken 

 loose and were galloping about. 



" The duration of time is estimated by the spaces walked 

 over by persons walking, between the appearance of the light, 

 its explosion, and the sound being heard." 



XVIII. From Birmingham. Edward Wheeler, Esq. fa- 

 voured me with the following particulars : — 



" I beg to offer you a description of the beautiful meteor 

 which I saw here on Monday night, Feb. 1 1 . 



*'In walking directly west,at twenty minutes to eleven,along 

 Great Hampton Street (which is sixty feet wide), the road 

 became so illuminated as to allow a pin to be seen. 



" Thinking it was occasioned through the aurora borealis, I 

 instantly turned towards the north, and saw a colour the most 

 brilliant (about two feet wide and twenty feet long) falling 

 rapidly from the zenith towards the south, displaying the gor- 

 geous colours of the iris, and throwing out towards the head 

 some pink and light blue fragments, which became altogether 

 extinguished behind the buildings opposite to me, of which a 

 sketch is now made for you. 



"Just afterwards, in meeting a man and his wife, they seemed 

 to be much alarmed." 



XIX. Near Wolverhampton. From the Illustrated Lon- 

 don News of Feb. 16, 1850. 



" Allow me to briefly notice the appearance last night 

 (Feb. 11) of a peculiarly large and brilliant meteor. After a 

 stormy day of wind and rain, the latter ceased at sunset, but 

 the former at the same time increased for a short space, and 

 then gradually lulled. The night became calm and clear, 

 with a few clouds on the horizon, and the stars shone with 

 remarkable brightness. At a little before eleven o'clock I 

 was struck by the sudden appearance of a brilliant light 

 resembling a continued gleam of lightning, but which, on 

 looking up, was found to proceed from an elongated lumi- 

 nous ball, falling rapidly from the zenith towards the eastern 

 horizon. It appeared like a mass of molten metal, but little 

 smaller than the moon's disc, and comparatively at a short 

 distance from my place of observation. The light given off 

 was intense, and rendered the whole landscape distinctly 

 visible. When approaching the earth it seemed to burst, 



