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A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 229 
light appearing to be of a size equal to one-fifth the area of the full moon: it 
was star-shaped, its light brilliant with a faint tinge of blue, but its light re- 
flected from surrounding objects had a green tinge even in the sky ; and in 
its progress there was a curdling appearance in the sky, about ten or fifteen 
degrees in advance of it, as if cirrus or fleecy clouds, very gauzy and thin, were 
retreating from it and crowding on each other, or more like a very thin and 
watery solution of white paint brushed over a smooth and polished surface 
and then invaded by the finger. The white particles fly from the finger with 
the repelled liquid, and form a white fleecy circle at a little distance all. round 
it. The meteor endured as long as a person would require to take five or 
six steps at a quick march and disappeared at once, from perfect brightness 
to nothing, leaving no apparent track where it was extinguished : but in the 
upper part of its course, a little south of zenith, there was a milky or phos- 
phorescent line, its thickness that of the little finger, and tapering towards the 
south ; and between its southern point and the spot where the meteor vanished, 
a clear space of some degrees without any evidence of a track. There was 
no appearance of an explosion, nor did I hear any sound. I am not quite 
certain of the hour, but I think the church clocks were chiming eleven a few 
minutes after the meteor disappeared. Shortly after a light southerly air 
sprung up, and during the night the temperature was low, approaching to 
cold.’”—Bombay Times, Oct. 3, 1851. 
No. 5.—“ On the Ist of June last, about 83 p.m., while there were clouds 
around, cirrostratus overhead, and moderatesouth-east wind blowing,a splendid 
meteor shot-from zenith towards south: it gave a light like that of the moon 
when it is four days old, and turned to a green star just before it disappeared. 
This meteor was preceded by four days of dry and sultry weather.”—Jbid. 
No. 6.—“ Some singular phzenomena occurred during the thunder-storm 
of Thursday evening, Sept. 25, 1851, which seem well-worthy of record. 
Exactly at a quarter past ten, when the thunder was at its loudest, the inha- 
bitants of the northern end of the Fort were alarmed with the sound as if of 
a large mass of something rushing violently through the air, the noise 
resembling that of a huge cannon-shot passing close by ; and immediately 
» afterwards a tremendous crash was heard, as if the mass had impinged on the 
ground or penetrated some of the buildings; nothing however could yester- 
day morning be discovered in the neighbourhood. The whole closely re- 
sembled what is mentioned as having occurred in Ross-shire in August 1849, 
when a huge mass of ice was found to have fallen. The rain was at this time 
falling so furiously, the night was so dark in the intervals between the 
flashes of lightning, and these last so bright and frequent, that a meteor of 
any size might have “swept unheeded by;” yet appearances look very much 
as if something of this sort had fallen, and we should recommend observers | 
to be on the outlook for the corpus delictimore than likely at the same 
time to have dropped into the sea. A tumbler half-full of water, on the side- 
- board of a house near the Mint, fell in two about seven in the evening, im- 
mediately after a vivid flash of lightning! We have it now before us; it is 
cut almost as clean asunder as if cloven with a knife. The storm abated 
somewhat after eleven, having apparently gone round to the west and south- 
west : half an hour after midnight it again got round to east, and several loud 
peals of thunder were heard; the lightning throughout was almost continued. 
Shortly after one all was tranquil again."— Bombay Times, Sept. 27. 
“ The Meteor.—The writer of the following most interesting notice has our 
grateful thanks ; we trust to hear further of the matter from the lighthouse, 
