A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 153 
flight (reaching, at its maximum, the brightness of Venus), and then slowly 
vanishing as it entered first the penumbra and then the umbra of the earth's 
shadow, in a slanting direction; and lastly, the body can hardly fail of being 
a satellite, as its distance is so much less than that of a shooting star, which 
M. Petit of Toulouse has pretty well identified as revolving about the earth 
in 35 20", or at about 3000 miles from the surface. 
No. 7.—Letter from Dr. Forster, Times, August 17, 1857. 
“ Extraordinary Coloured Meteors. 
“ To the Editor of the Times. 
“« Sir,—lI venture once more to trespass on your valuable time and paper 
to communicate the following extraordinary phenomena to the public, since, 
if similar meteors should have been seen in different latitudes, such registers 
may tend to useful results, as well as to solve the long-disputed question of 
the cause of meteors. Monday, being the 10th of August, astronomers were 
all on the look-out for the periodical falling stars. I began my watch on the 
9th, when some few brilliant examples occurred. On the 10th they were 
more numerous, as also on the 11th; but on the 12th, that is, last night, they 
assumed very unusual forms and colours. Being at Ostend I returned late 
to a good position above the sea, and watched them great part of the night. 
Many hundreds fell in various directions, but particularly towards S.W. and 
W., not N.W. as usual. They did not in general move fast and leave the 
white trains behind them, as is usual, but descended slowly with a bright 
yellow flame ; others were splendidly crimson, and some bright blue and 
purple. This fact is very curious, as favouring the hypothesis of ignited 
gases, adopted by M. De Luc of Geneva ; and it would be interesting to 
- ascertain whether this coloration of the meteors has been observed in other 
places far from the influence of the sea. I have ascertained that during the 
whole of this month meteors have been numerous all along the Rhine and 
in Germany. Such numbers have not fallen since the 10th of August, 1811, 
nor have we any record of such a quantity as on the present occasion, extend- 
ing over four days consecutively, and exhibiting such very brilliant and 
- diversified tints of light. 
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_ “Collaterally with these meteors the following phenomena should be 
noticed, proving the highly electric state of the air. In the storm which 
_ raged in Holland on the 5th of July, the hailstones were larger than pigeons’ 
eggs, and broke nearly ail the windows in Arnheim. The same occurred at 
Spa on the 5th of August, when every pane of glass exposed to the hail was 
beaten to pieces. All the electrical instruments indicate a high positive 
charge. A trombe or waterspout was witnessed by me in the distance on the 
11th. The showers have not cooled the air, as they usually do. A new 
weathercock with several horizontal and vertical fans and wheels, which I 
have put up in order to test the wind, shows that the varying gales have not 
blown horizontally, but slanting, or in undulations, and the thermometer has 
risen again to Indian heat. All these circumstances point to some cause of 
the changes of temperature not at all depending on the place of the sun, and 
which future observations may more fully develope, if astronomiers will accu- 
rately observe them in various parts of the world. We may possibly derive 
therefrom what has long been a desideratum in science—a table of true indi- 
cations of the changes of weather. 
“I submit all or any of these observations to your better judgment for 
insertion, and have the honour to remain, 
> “Your obedient servant, 
_ “ Brussels, Aug. 13.” “ T, ForsTER.” 
