IS77.I 5J1 [Kirkwood. 



Thk Point of Disappearance — Course and Length of the Visi- 

 ble Track. 



The meteor crossed the meridian of Paoli at Berrieu, Michigan ; the dif- 

 ference of latitude of the two positions being 235 miles. Mr. HoUings- 

 wortli says: " My observer, Mr. J. M. Andrew, describes the meteor as 

 ' grazing ' a chimney-top which was on his meridian 400 feet distant, and 

 51 feet more elevated than the observer's eye. " The angle of elevation 

 when on the meridian of Paoli was, therefore, 7^-16'. Taking into account 

 the curvature of the earth's surface, these data give 37 miles as the alti- 

 tude of the body when passing Berrien, Michigan. At Wolcottville, La 

 Grange County, Indiana, the bearing of the point of disappearance was 

 North 70° West, and its apparent elevation about 25°. At Chicago it was 

 stated to be at an elevation of 50°, and somewhat North of East. These 

 observations indicate a point over Lake Michigan, in latitude 42^) North, 

 longitude 86° 55' West. This point is 40 miles trom Chicago, 78 from 

 Wolcottville, and 135 from Ottokee, Ohio. The altitude of the meteor at 

 the time of its disappearance, according to the observations at Chicago and 

 Wolcottville, was about 34 miles ; the bearing of the track, or of its pro- 

 jection on the earth's surface, was North 78° West ; and it w^as inclined to 

 the horizon at an angle of 21o. The meteor passed vertically over the 

 counties of Fulton and Williams, Ohio ; the North-east angle of Steuben 

 County, Indiana ; and Branch, St. Joseph, Cass and Berrien, Michigan. 



"The meteor was a very brilliant one. It lighted up the sky like the 

 glare of a calcium light ; the intensity being several times greater than the 

 light of the fu^ moon."* Its mass was apparently dissolved or dissipated 

 in the latter part of its track, leaving a luminous train which continued 

 visible at least 40 minutes. The disappearance of the body was followed 

 by no detonation, and if any meteoric fragments fell from the terminus of 

 the track they must have been lost in the lake. No part of the mass, it is 

 sufficiently obvious, could have passed out of the atmosphere. 



The rare occurrence of meteors whose trains remain visible from fifteen 

 minutes to an hour or more, seems to indicate a remarkable peculiarity in 

 their structure and composition. Professor Ennis has suggested that they 

 probably consist of elements easily combustible, such as potassium, 

 sodium, calcium and magnesium. f 



This meteor's motion about the sun was retrograde. The observations, 

 however, furnished no data — or none sufficiently trustworthy — for deter- 

 mining either its orbital velocity or the nature of the orbit in which it 

 moved. 



II. 



The Second Meteor op July 8, 1876. 



Soon after the appearance of the meteor above described, the writer in 

 a published note expressed his regret that the observations furnished by 



*Chicago Tribune. 



t Proc. of the A. A. A, S., Indianapolis Meeting. 



