the Meteor of Febmary 11, 1850. 251 



mouth man said he saw it when it burst from the sky first. I 

 saw also the father of a young man in Budleigh who saw the 

 meteor, and described it as a bar of hght, emitting sparks 

 about a yard long. This young man was in bed, and seeing 

 suddenly a brilliant light, looked out of window and saw what 

 occasioned it." 



XXVII. Yeovil, Somersetshire. Second communication 

 from J. Hannane, Esq. 



"I find, on further examination, that I have made a great 

 error in representing the altitude of the meteor as 60 degrees, 

 for I find, by testing the point by a theodolite, that the alti- 

 tude of its first appearance was 36 degrees only, and it was 

 8 or 9 degrees west of north. I was looking towards the north 

 at the time, being I believe endeavouring to find the polar 

 star. How I came to reckon the angle at 60 degrees, was 

 from having always assumed the ridge of the house over 

 which it appeared, which is 41 feet high, as presenting 

 that angle where I was standing, being a distance of 76 

 feet, which of course was an error. The course of the 

 meteor was left to right. I lost sight of it finally behind a 

 chimney, and then it was at the altitude of 22 degrees, and 

 east of north 35 degrees*. These have been taken by the in- 

 strument. 



" Since writing the above, I have taken the bearings by 

 compass only with a neighbour, who also saw it in another 

 part of the town ; the elevation is much the same as I 

 noted, but its point of disappearance also behind houses gives 

 20 degrees east of north. The meteor must have travelled 

 considerably east of north, or I could not have seen its re- 

 flected light from the roof of a house near, unless it was from 

 the atmosphere itself reflecting it. 



" The great distance it travelled will perhaps account for 

 its gradually increasing in size, as, if it originated over the 

 Bristol Channel, it would have come nearer to this part of the 

 kingdom. No explosion was heard in the neighbourhood." 



XXVIII. Langport, Somersetshire. Second communica- 

 tion from William Bond Paul, Esq. 



"In accordance with the desire you expressed in your 

 letter of 26th ult., I have visited the spot from which I saw 

 the meteor of the night of February 11, and have taken the 

 altitude and azimuth of the supposed place at which I first 

 observed it, and that at which it disappeared. 



" The observations are as follows, viz. — 



• The variation of the compass at Yeovil is 23° 20' nearly j therefore the 

 azimuth was 11° 40' E. of N. 



S2 



