The Meteor of My, 1860. 373 



by seven or eight hundred in width ; or from Lake Michigan to 

 the Gulf Stream and from Maine to Virginia. The newspapers 

 have contained many notices of its appearance as seen at various 

 places within these limits, but most of these accounts are too 

 vague to be of any scientific value. We are not yet in possession 

 of a suflBcient number of good observations for a final discussion 

 of the phenomena presented, and can only at this time notice 

 briefly a few of the best that have come to hand, and state some 

 approximate results derived from them respecting the height of 

 the meteor above the earth, the direction of its path, &c. 



At New Haven, it was seen, during a portion of its flight, by 

 several members of the Scientific Faculty at the house of Prof. J. 

 A. Porter, and pains were at once taken to fix its apparent path 

 by reference to parts of the building, tree-tops, stars, &c., near 

 which it had been seen, and also to determine its time of flight, 

 by noting the time required to repeat the various acts performed 

 while it was in sight. The bearings and altitudes of the points 

 noted for fixing the path were subsequently determined instru- 

 mentally. Independent data of the same kind were also obtained 

 by going with many different observers to the places occupied 

 by them at the time, and observing with compass and quadrant 

 the path in the sky pointed out by each, and noting the time for 

 each in the manner alreadv indicated. 



By laying down these bearings and altitudes on a globe, a nor- 

 mal or average path was obtained, which cuts the horizon at N. 

 62° W. and S.. 62° E., and gives a maximum altitude of 53°, in 

 a direction S. 28° W. 



The time of flight for the different observers, determined as 

 above stated, ranged from 10 to 20 seconds — giving an average 

 of fourteen or fifteen seconds, which agrees with the careful esti- 

 mate made at the time by the observers at Prof. Porter's. 



Valuable observations have also been received from individuals 

 in different places, some items of which we proceed to state. They 

 will be given more fully hereafter. 



Mr. J. D. Lawson, of New York, saw the meteor from the cor- 

 ner of Fourth street and Broad wav, and has furnished data which 

 gives for maximum altitude (N.) 56|°. Another independant 

 observation at the same spot, as published in the Journulof Com- 

 merce^ gives from data subsequently obtained by Prof. H. A. New- 

 ton, an altitude of about 55°. We use for N. Y. 56° as the 

 mean of the two. 



