the Meteor of February 11, 1850. 269 



of a dull golden lustre; at Hampstead it was first white, then 

 yellow, and then pink. At Birmingham it was described as 

 of the gorgeous colours of the Iris. At Carrington, pink and 

 white ; at Chester, first a pale yellow, or of silvery brightness, 

 then deepened into a beautiful rose-pink ; and at Reading of 

 a dull red. 



The differences of colour are doubtless attributable to the 

 circumstances under which the observer has viewed the me- 

 teor: in some cases marshy land or a river has intervened, 

 and in others the meteor may have been seen from high land 

 with a clear atmosphere. 



13. The Time of Visibility of the Meteor. 



The observer at Chester lost sight of the meteor in 4^ or 

 5% it being at this time over a place a few miles west of the 

 zenith of Kidderminster. The observer at Yeovil saw it from 

 its commencement till he lost sight of it when in the zenith of 

 a place a few miles east of Stourbridge, after an interval of 7^ 

 or 8^. These two accounts are accordant. The observer at 

 Langport saw the meteor at about the time the observer at 

 Yeovil lost sight of it, and it disappeared from his view in 

 3 seconds, when the meteor was a few miles west of Bedford, 

 or at about P in time before its explosion. These times 

 together make up an interval of about 1 1 seconds, from the 

 time of its first appearance to the time of its explosion. 



The observer at Southampton saw it for 2^ At Euston 

 Square the time of duration was estimated as 2^ or 3^ At 

 Enstone a permanence of light of several seconds was noticed. 

 At Hampstead Road the time it was visible was 3^ or ^^. At 

 Bromham the light continued full half a minute. At Rugby, 

 by account XVII., the duration of light was 20 seconds ; and 

 by account XXXIX. it was 50 seconds. At Wolverhampton, 

 the time, as near as could be judged, was 60 seconds; at Car- 

 rington it was visible 3^ or 4* ; at Raby Castle 6^ ; at Brix- 

 worth half a minute, as furnished by the Rev. C. F. Watkins, 

 the Vicar. At Durham it was visible 30 seconds ; and at Ded- 

 dington the time was estimated as 40 seconds. These inter- 

 vals of time are very discordant, and in some cases imagina- 

 tion must totally have misled the observers. 



14. On the Velocity of the Meteor. 



In regard to its velocity it was certainly great; in judging 

 of it, we may neglect entirely the diurnal motion of the earth, 

 and if we suppose for a moment, that the earth did not move 

 in its orbit during the time of its continuance, estimated at 

 11 seconds, then it passed fully at the rate of 15 miles in one 



