401 



*• Then, by the aid of a theodolite, I obtained two separate 

 measures for the greatest apparent altitude of the trajectory to 

 each of these separate observers. 



" The angle of elevation above the horizon given by one 

 was 46° 5', and by the other, 43° ; and the course or plane 

 of trajectory corresponded closely with that observed by us at 

 Salt Hill, viz., from N.E. to S. W., 110° west of north. I 

 find the distance in a straight line from my dwelling-house to 

 Salt Hill station, as measured on the large scale map of the 

 Ordnance Survey, is six miles and a quarter, as nearly as pos- 

 sible, or 33,000 feet. I have subsequently obtained from a 

 third observer, close to the same locality, a third angle of appa- 

 rent maximum elevation, which gives 53° 5'. Reducing these 

 by a simple trigonometrical operation, and assuming all the ob- 

 servers to have been on the same horizon or level (which they 

 were, within about fifteen feet), the actual culmination of the 

 meteor, or greatest elevation above Salt Hill, would be from 

 each of the observations as follows : 



Elevation. 



43° 0' . . 30,210 feet, = 5-72 miles. 

 46° 5' . . 34,110 „ =6-46 „ 

 53° 5' . . 39,000 „ =7-38 „ 

 "The latter observation was most likely (by circumstances) 

 to be somewhat in error in angular excess. I am, therefore, 

 on the whole, disposed to conclude that the actual elevation 

 was about six miles. The meteor was, therefore, in air of 

 little more than one-fourth the density of that at our surface, 

 and at its greatest altitude might have been seen at a distance 

 of above 200 miles. 



" It was seen from parts of the county of Carlow, and 1 

 should hope that several other observations may yet be ob- 

 tained, by which its altitude (the most important of all ele- 

 ments at present to the study of these mysterious phenomena) 

 may be still more correctly ascertained. 



" Assuming the flight of the meteor to have been in a 



