398 



returning to town, and waiting at Salt Hill station for the train, 

 I observed, along with my eldest son, who accompanied me, 

 a meteor of unusual size and brilliancy ; and accidental cir- 

 cumstances having enabled me to make some tolerably accu- 

 rate observations upon it, and to obtain those of other simul- 

 taneous observers, I deem the whole as possibly worthy of per- 

 manent record. 



" I was standing at Salt Hill station, with my face towards 

 the east, and looking upwards, when, at about 30° of eleva- 

 tion, a bright light bearing a short tail suddenly appeared, 

 and in motion. Its apparent motion was upwards, and it passed 

 almost directly over my zenith, or perhaps about 10° to the 

 south of it, and, continuing to move in a vertical plane almost 

 precisely parallel to the line of rails at Salt Hill station, disap- 

 peared again at about 30° or 35° of elevation on the opposite or 

 western side of our zenith. At the moment of its disappear- 

 ance, I ran into the station house, and found the railway clock 

 there shewed 54| minutes past 4 o'clock. I set my own 

 watch accurately by this clock, and on coming into town ascer- 

 tained, by comparison with the chronometer of Mr. Law of 

 Sackville-street, that it was four minutes fast. Hence the true 

 time of the extinction of the meteor was 50| minutes past 4 

 o'clock, mean time, within an error of twenty seconds at the 

 most. 



" The day had been fine. It was clear daylight at the 

 time, so that the faces of persons standing on the platform 

 (many of whom saw the meteor) could be discerned clearly at 

 fifty yards' distance. The sky was serene overhead, with a 

 very few stars of the first magnitude just becoming visible, 

 and some light, scirrus clouds tinged reddish by the sunset. 

 The horizon all round presented a soft, neutral, grey haze, 

 most dense over Dublin, and becoming evanescent at about 30° 

 of elevation. 



" The meteor seemed to start into existence and to dis- 

 appear just above the confines of the haze (but was not eclipsed 



