THF. METKORITF. OV NONI.Ml'.KK LAST. 45 



bringing a report of the occurrence before the Hertfordshire Natural 

 History Society, the Editor abandoned the idea of drawing up a 

 separate account (for which he had collected much material) and he 

 accordingly left the matter in more competent hands. 



liy an oversight no further reference to Mr. Fordham's paper has 

 been made in our pages ; it appeared in the "Transactions of the 

 Hertfordshire Natural History Society," vol. iv. pp. 33-62. The 

 appearance of the remarkable meteor of December 14th recalled the 

 occurrence of the great "bolide" of 1887, and it seems desirable, 

 even thus late, to print a short notice of Mr. Fordham's observations 

 and conclusions, referring those readers specially interested to the 

 paper itself, which is an admirable example of carefu.1 recording of 

 natural phenomena. 



The general result of the information obtained was that a sound, 

 variously described, and, naturally enough, in the first instance 

 regarded as arising from an earthquake, was heard about twenty 

 minutes past eight on the morning of Sunday, the 20th of November, 

 over an area 



" Extendinof east and west from near Biiiy St. Edmunds in Suffolk to Upper 

 I.amborne on the western border of Oxfordshire, south to Watford and Reading-, 

 and north to St. Neots, Ri^ley in the nonh of Bedfordshire, Sulgrave in 

 N'orthampti)nshire, and an isolated point near Leamington ; the sound being 

 aicompaniid in many places by a movement of the air of sufficient force to cause 

 windows to rattle and light objects to mo\e. Bury St. Edmunds and Upper 

 Lamborne are on an E^.X.E. and W.S.W. line about 150 miles apart." 



According to Mr. Fordham's data the sound was heard in 153 

 distinct localities, distributed among the following eleven counties : — 

 Suffolk, i; Essex, 6; Cambridgeshire, 19; Huntingdonshire, 3; 

 Bedfordshire, 34 ; Hertfordshire, 43 ; Northamptonshire, 2 ; Buck- 

 inghamshire, 16 : Warwickshire, i ; Oxfordshire, 15 ; and Berkshire, 



13- 



Mr. Fordham's estimate of six stations in Essex at which the 

 sound was heard is certainly too low — we have records from the 

 following places in the county : — Arkesden, Audley End, Birchanger, 

 Hroxted, Chcsterford, Chishall, Clavering Debden, Elmdon, Elsen- 

 ham, Farnham, Finchingfield, Heydon, Newport, Saffron W^alden, 

 Stanstead, Mountfitchet, Wendon, (Src. 



From Hertford, and from Solihill, near Birmingham, about the 

 ^ame time on November 20th, a meteor was seen ; from Hertford 

 passing towards the westward, from a i)oint about N.E. to a point 



