46 THE METEORITE OF NOVKMl'.RR LAST. 



about W'.N.W., and from Solihull at a point reported to be due S. 

 of that place. Elsewhere the foggy state of the atmosphere appears 

 to have prevented the meteorite from being seen. 



Mr. Fordham admits the difficulty of bringing the whole numl)er 

 of records into complete harmony, but he thinks that the following 

 deductions seem fairly to arise from a consideration of the various 

 reports : — 



(i) That a meteorite of considerable magnitude passed across central England 

 at a very high velocity at 8.20 a.m. on the morning of November 20th, 1K87 ; 

 (2) that its traclt may be laid down approximately on the map as passing over 

 East Harling, Newmarket, Barrington, Aylesbury, Thame and Wantage : (3) 

 that its elevation was, at Ea=t Harling, between twenty and thirty miles, and was 

 in the latter part of its course between five and ten miles ; (4) at the points in the 

 neighbourhood of Ampthill, Thame, and Abingdon and Wantage, explosions took 

 place which account for the sounds and shock reported by numerous observers ; 

 and (5) that the explosion in the Abingdon-Wantage district terminated the 

 course of the meteorite by final dissipation of its mass either in solid fragments or 

 as gaseous products of its combustion. 



The report is furnished with a map showing the area in which the 

 meteorite was observed and laying down approximately its course. 

 There is also a very useful list of references to records of former 

 phenomena of the kind. 



[Among the letters collected for the intended report is one from Mr. Working- 

 ton Smith in which he gives sorr.e interesting particulars of a similar bolide which 

 passed over Dunstable about forty years ago. As Mr. Smith believes that no 

 report has been published of this we print his notes here : — " A gigantic meteor 

 fell here [Dunstable] about 1849, in the summer, about 11 p.m. A few people 

 saw it, but all heard it ; amongst others my wife that now is. Old people remem- 

 ber it. They say it was a very dark but very starlight night, when suddenly a 

 terrific rush and explosion was heard in the air. The people who saw it say that the 

 whole sky was one mass of fire and sparks, and of different colours. My wife was 

 going to bed at the time, and although the shutters were closed (she was down- 

 stairs) the room was illuminated as if by the sun of mid-da;,-. She says the sound 

 was like a ' ton of coal being suddenly thrown down in front of the house.' She 

 was so stunned and frightened that she dare not leave the room or go to the 

 door, but at length she heard some neighbours speaking in the street, and then 

 she went to the door. From them she learned of the sky being one mass of lire 

 just before. When she looke.i out the stars were shining as usual and all was 

 calm." 



Puffin at Bures. — Mr. Pettit has a Pufifin {Fralerculn arctica'), for preserva- 

 tion, caught at Bures on the river Stour a few days since, a rather unusual locality 

 for such a sea-loving bird, but the late stormy weather may have driven it out of 

 its course.— IIi-NRV Lavek, F.L.S., Colciiester, janiary 17th, 1891. 



