1879.] ^±1 [Kirkwood. 



seen was about 77 miles. This, it must be admitted, is somewhat uncer- 

 tain, but we may safely conclude that it was not less than 70 miles nor 

 more than 85. The length of the visible track was between 169 and 175 

 miles. The estimated time of flight was probably too short ; but the great 

 velocity appears to indicate a hyperbolic orbit. 



(4.) 1878, September 16, 9h. Orn., p. m. — This meteor was observed by 

 Mr. Benjamin Vail, of Henryville, Clark County, Indiana. It was first 

 seen near Gamma Ursse Majoris, and it passed over Delta in the same con- 

 stellation. Its apparent diameter was about one -fourth or one- fifth that of 

 the moon.* 



(5.) 1878, November 12, 7h. 0m., p. m. (local time.) — Washington, Indi- 

 ana. Mr. D. Eckley Hunter, Principal of the High School, of Washing- 

 ton, Daviess County, Indiana, was, with several of his students, watching 

 for shooting stars on the evening of November 12, when precisely as the 

 town clock was striking seven, a large fireball appeared very close to Vega, 

 passed in a sourtherly direction through the milky-way, and disappeared 

 about 20° N. W. of Jupiter. Its motion was very slow ; the time of visi- 

 bility being estimated by Mr. Hunter at 10 seconds. Its apparent diame- 

 ter was about two-thirds that of the moon. What struck Mr. Hunter as 

 especially remarkable was the sharply defined disk which the meteor pre- 

 sented, up almost to the very moment of its disappearance.! 



(6.) 1878. November 14, 3h. 30m., p. m.— In the New York Semi-Weekly 

 Tribune, of December 10, 1878, Mr. Thomas Whitaker, of Hillside Farm, 

 Mass., reports the appearance of this brilliant meteor as observed by him- 

 self. The sky was very clear at the time, and the meteor was seen in 

 bright sunshine. It was due south from the place of observation. 



(7.) 1878, December 30. — A few minutes before 7 o'clock (Indianapolis 

 time) on the evening of December 30, 1878, a large meteor was seen in 

 Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. So far, however, as known to the wri- 

 ter, the only observations sufficiently prescise to be available in determin- 

 ing the height and direction of its path were made at Anderson, Madison 

 County, Indiana ; Washington, Washington County, Pa., and Wooster, 

 Wayne County, Ohio. 



Anderson, Indiana, Lat. 40° 5', Long. 8° 28' W-— The observations at 

 Anderson were made by Mr. Frederick E. Dickinson, a member of the Senior 

 Class, in Indiana University.^: Mr. D. was in the street, walking east- 

 ward, when the meteor appeared in front of him, a few degrees N. of E., 

 at an altitude of not less than 15° nor more than 17°. As the meteor passed 

 behind a building the point of disappearance could not be determined. 

 The apparent diameter was one-fourth that of the moon, and the time of 

 flight was estimated at two seconds or probabty a fraction less. 



Washington, Pa., Lat. 40° 10', Long. 3° 12' W.— The phenomenon as 



* Letter from Mr. Vail. 

 + Letter from Mr. D. E. Hunter. 



j The meteor was seen by others in Indiana, but the descriptions given were 

 nothing more than vague guesses in regard to its size and general direction. 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XVIII. 103. 2E. PRINTED JUNE 3, 1879. 



