1877.] 5 Jo [Kirk wood. 



Pennsylvania and New York. I have received communications descrip- 

 tive of the phenomena from Prof. F. W. Bardwell, of Lawrence, and Rev. 

 J. L. Gay, of Parsons, Kansas ; Prof. Joseph Ficklin, Columbia, Mo. ; 

 Prof. S. W. Burnham, Chicago, 111.; Profs. D. E. Hunter, Brookston, 

 and J. B. Roberts, Indianapolis, Ind. ; Prof. Samuel J. Kirkwood, Wooster, 

 O. ; and others in the different States over which the meteor passed. At 

 Bloomington, Ind., it was observed by Profs. T. A. Wylie, D.D., H. B. 

 Boisen, and C. F. McNutt ; also by Rev. James Garrison, Messrs. D. O. 

 Spencer, J. Graham, and many others. A discussion of the observations 

 furnished by the correspondents named gives the following as 



The Meteor's Track through the Atmosphere. 



The body when first visible was about 70 or 75 miles above the earth's 

 surface, at a point South-west from Emporia, Kansas, and not far from 

 the Southern border of the State. It passed Emporia a few degrees South- 

 east of the zenith ; entered Missouri near the South-west corner of Jackson 

 ■county; passed very nearly over the towns of Lexington, Keytesville, and 

 Oakdale, Missouri ; Quincy, Lewiston, Peoria, and Lorain, Illinois ; 

 Winamac, Rochester, and Auburn, Indiana ; Bryan and Toledo, Ohio ; 

 •crossed Lake Erie to a point a few miles South of Erie, Pennsylvania, and 

 disappeared over South-western New York. This track is not represented 

 by a straight line drawn on the map, but by one somewhat curved towards 

 the North or North-west. Its length is between 1000 and 1100 miles- one 

 of the longest meteoric tracks on record. The body passed the meridian 

 of Bloomington, Indiana, 131 miles North of the city, and its apparent 

 elevation as determined by Prof. T. A. Wylie, D.D., was 15°. This, 

 taking into account the curvature of the meridian, gives about 38 miles as 

 the altitude of the meteor when over the Western part of Fulton county, 

 Indiana. Data fui'nished by Prof. Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Wooster, 

 Ohio, show the height when over Lake Erie, directly North of that city, 

 to have been 39 miles. The estimated altitudes at other points of the 

 track are less satisfactory. 



Explosions. 



Some observers in Missouri report an explosion of the meteor when 

 passing over the central part of the State. At Bloomington, Indiana, 

 Prof. H. B. Boisen, who saw the meteor when due West and watched it 

 till it disappeared near the Eastern horizon, observed it separate into several 

 parts when nearly Nortli-west, or in the direction of Peoria, Illinois. 

 Rev. James Garrison, who resides one mile South of Bloomington, noticed 

 by his clock the time of the meteor's disappearance and also that of the 

 subsequent rumbling sound together with the violent jarring of his house. 

 The interval was 15 minutes, indicating a distance of 185 miles. The 

 sound and jar of the explosion were heard and felt by hundreds through- 

 out Monroe county, and by many ascribed to an earthquake. In regard 

 to the sounds following the meteor's passage through the atmosphere, the 



