the Meteor of February 11, 1850. 255 



while to say another word, inasmuch as the accidental cir- 

 cumstances of my position rendered this particular point a 

 matter of absolute certainty. At the time of the occur- 

 rence of the meteor the pole-star formed so ready a standard 

 of comparison, that any great error in estimating its position 

 in azimuth would have been impossible; indeed I may say 

 that I am confident it passed the north line*." 



XXXIV. Enstone, Oxon. Second communication, in a 

 letter to the Astronomer Royal, from the Rev. J. Jordan. 



" In the case of the young man referred to in my former 

 letter, I have obtained, and subjoin for you, the measures sent 

 with this, and which I took by first placing a long pole to 

 the point of the heavens you indicated, fixing that, and then 

 by means of a carpenter's level with plumb-line attached to 

 it, taking the measure of the lines forming the right anglef. 

 This observation was made at Church Enstone, in the county 

 of Oxford. The following observations 1 have made today 

 at Little Tew, a village just two miles north of this place — 

 Enstone. My informant is a very intelligent young farmer, 

 named Mr. J. Kimber; and his account is exceedingly good 

 and accurate. He relates that on the night in question he 

 was riding slowly home, and having lately attended some lec- 

 tures on astronomy at Chipping Norton, the sky being at the 

 time brilliant with stars, he was looking up and admiring them, 

 and reflecting on parts of the lecture, when suddenly he saw 

 what seemed to him at first a star of the smallest magnitude 

 fall from the sky and descend rapidly, as if it were about to 

 come down upon himself, when suddenly it turned off at an 

 angle, took a horizontal course, exploded into about eight or 

 ten bright globules, and disappeared. Its appearance was 

 grand and brilliant in the extreme, delineating its path in the 

 heavens distinctly by a long trail of light, and illuminating the 

 whole scene so as to enable him distinctly to observe and note 

 in his mind its whole course. I accompanied him to the spot 

 where he witnessed all this, and in a manner precisely similar 

 to that described above, I took measures of the altitudes of 

 three points ; that when it was first seen, that when its path 

 seemed to become horizontal, and lastly at its explosion J." 



• The meteor does not seem to have reached the meridian of London 

 from all the other accounts. 



t From these measures the altitude at explosion was 45°. 



X From these measures the altitude on its first appearance was 62° ] 7', 

 and both the other altitudes were 45°. 



These altitudes are all too great ; they make the meteor when first seen 

 at a distance from the earth exceeding 100 miles, and at the point of ex- 

 plosion at about 60 miles. 



