60 REPORT — 1856. 



APPENDIX. 



No. 1. — Extract from Prof. C. P. Smyth's communication. (Meteor, Dec. 

 11, 1855.) 



" It was apparently below the clouds, for they were thick and compact 

 cirrostrati in all that part of the sky, shutting out all the stars and reflecting 

 the glare of distant iron-works ; and the meteor showed no symptoms of shining 

 through the cloudy medium, for it was well-defined. The clouds were such 

 as have an altitude of four to five miles attributed to them, and have a very 

 scattering effect on rays of light passing through them, and must have been 

 composed of frozen particles ; one or two stars were hazily seen through the 

 clouds in the S. and S.W." 



No. 2.— Meteor, Jan. 7, 1856. 



" To the Editor of the Kentish Gazette. 



" Sir, — This evening, at a quarter before five o'clock, being at St. Thomas's 

 Hill, near Canterbury, I was struck by what appeared a rocket in brilliancy, 

 but with sparks more compacted than usual. I ran to a position where no 

 trees intercepted my sight, and was astonished to find a bright vertical line — 

 [to appearance about 6 ft. long and 2 in. wide] * — in the south, immediately 

 under Saturn. 



" There was no cloud near it, or indeed, on the whole hemisphere at the 

 time. Its brilliancy exceeded that of the planet, and it seemed to emit light 

 in the manner of a gilded snake. 



" It continued about five minutes with this aspect, when its form began to 

 change, and showed a bold curve in its centre, with a deflection at each ex- 

 tremity ; at this time, a bright, waving, thread-like tail became visible, and 

 very soon after a similar vermiform appearance in the opposite direction was 

 to be seen at the top. As the body, so to speak, curved, so 1t appeared to 

 become broader, and in about 10 minutes the general direction was changed, 

 for it had lost its vertical direction, and was just acquiring a horizontal one. 



" It was not till this time that its nature could be defined ; but now it 

 showed that it was a thin cloud, and it finally passed away without leaving 

 a trace behind. 



" I am, Sir, yours truly, 

 7th Jaauary, 1856. " William Masters." 



No. 3. — Diagram of meteor, January 7, 1855, accompanying Mr. Rowell's 

 letter. 



\ t 





I 



No. 4. — Extract of a letter from Mrs. Smyth. 



" January 1855. 



" On Monday the 7th instant, as I was returning homeward from the 

 northward with a friend about a quarter before five o'clock p.m., my friend 

 suddenly exclaimed, * There is a rocket ! ' pointing to the southward in the di- 

 rection of the Chiltern Hills. She saw it explode at the lower end of a long 

 and rather slanting fiery train. 



* The part in brackets is given as communicated. 



