44 REPORT—1849. 
would have been by the light of the full moon. The exact situation from 
which I had a view of this interesting object was about twenty yards farther 
from Birmingham than the Plough and Harrow public house at Edgbaston ; 
and the time was, as nearly as I can tell, about ten minutes past seven.” 
No. 16.—From a letter to the Rev. Prof. Powell :— 
“ Birmingham, Sept. 13, 1849. 
“ Rey. Sir,—I furnish you with a written account of what I suppose to 
be a meteoric appearance, which I saw some years ago at Palamcottah, in 
South India. I am unable to lay my hand at present upon a brief memo- 
randum which I believe I made at the time, and therefore cannot furnish the 
date more accurately than to say it was in the year 1838. 
“ At about half-past seven o'clock in the evening, two young men living in a 
house thirty or forty yards from mine, were taking their tea together, with 
their doors and windows all open, as is usual in India, when their attention was 
suddenly attracted to a bright light shining outside, which at first they took 
to be moonlight; but remembering that there was no moon at that time, 
they went outside to see what it could be. They beheld on looking up a 
brilliant object in the heavens, shining more brightly than the moon, and 
instantly came and called me to see it. By the time I had reached the out- 
side of my house, its brilliance had considerably faded, but even then it was 
a glorious object. Its position was directly north, its elevation about forty- 
five degrees, perhaps a little higher; its form I well remember, because of its 
resemblance to a letter in the Tamul alphabet, and its whole surface, though 
different in shape, little less than that of the moon. Its shape and relative 
size to the moon may be represented thus. What ap- 
pear to me to be its great peculiarities were these: 
it was perfectly stationary, never moving for a mo- Gre i? 
ment from the place where it was first seen: and it 
remained visible twenty minutes from’the time I first saw it, becoming more 
and more dull and indistinct, till it melted away and was seen no more. 
should add that it was a starlight night, without a single cloud. 
‘‘T have the honour to be, Sir, 
“ Your obedient Servant, 
“G, Perritt.” 
No. 17.— General Results of Observations on Meteors. By Epwarp 
JosePH Lowe, Esq., F.R.A.S. 
(1.) Periodicity of meteors. 
The following epochs are known as periods when falling stars are abun- 
dant. 
April 22-25, July 17-26, August 9-11, November 12-14, November 27- 
29, December 6-12. To this number I add October 16-18. 
I have found the month of January frequently to have a brilliant display 
of meteors, but the day is not stationary. In 1844 they were abundant on 
the 26th; 1845, on the 31st ; 1847, on the 11th and 13th; and 1848, on the 
4th. 
The annexed shows when falling stars have been numerous in the various 
epochs since 1841, and when and by whom observed. 
a April epoch 22,-25. 
1848 .... 23 .... on the Clyde .... by Mr. Symonds. 
Highfield House. . the Author. 
1849 .... 20 .... id. Ae id. 
RA a ie id. ie id. 

