38 REPORT — 1851. 



APPENDIX, 



Containing details from the original Communications of the above Observations 

 made to Prof. Powell. 



No. 1. — Note from Mrs. Dixon. 



A Meteor seen at Ventnor, Isle of Wight, Monday, September 4, 1848, about 

 9 o'clock P.M. — " I was sitting out of doors when the whole view was sud- 

 denly illuminated as brightly as by the full moon, the light being rather lurid. 

 On looking S.W. by W. at the altitude of about 50°, I saw a vivid ball of fire 

 about two-thirds the diameter of the moon, just bursting vertically in half, 

 scattering bright sparks of various sizes in all directions, and one large body, 

 about one-third the size of the whole meteor, fell rapidly towards the earth," 

 bearing a little south, leaving a luminous track. As it fell it became less 

 bright and defined ; when it had fallen about 25° it again burst, scattered 

 itself, and was dissipated : three minutes at least must have elapsed before 

 the luminous track and ail the bright sparks had disappeared. I heard much 

 the same account of the meteor as seen in Hampshire, nearly forty miles to 

 the west, and in Sussex, forty miles to the east of Ventnor. 



" On the same evening there were several falling stars in other parts of the 

 heavens, more (as far as I remember) to the south, but I have no memoran- 

 dum of the point of the compass. ,, . Oixon " 



No. 2.— A Letter to Prof. Powell from E. J. Lowe, Esq. 

 " My dear Sir, — Mr. Lawson has been kind enougli to forward the follow- 

 ing account of a meteor seen by W. H. Weekes, Esq., at Sandwich, in Kent, 

 of which I send you these particulars. 



" Yours truly, 



" E. J. LowK. 



" ' 1850, February 5, C" 50™ (clock time). My attention being fixed upon 

 Orion (a greyish liaze jirevailing at the time), I observed a speck of dull light 

 commence at a point little west of that splendid group of stars, at an altitude 

 of 28° 30' above the horizon. The light went on increasing rapidly in mag- 

 nitude and intensity, continuing stationary the while, and glowing through 

 the thin grey mist like a moderatelj"^ red-hot iron ball, until it had acquired 

 an apparent diameter equal to at least one-third that of the full moon, when, 

 without any noise of an explosion being heard, it suddenly burst, the main 

 body taking a slow rectilineal motion parallel to the horizon and to the east- 

 ward; the instant when the motion of the meteorolite commenced many large, 

 glowing, red fragments were thrown off in various directions from the centre, 

 and a brilliant shower of variegated fire descended perpendicularly towards the 

 earth. So beautiful was it that it resembled the coloured rain from a sky-rocket. 



" 'The following cliaracteristics are remarkable : — 



" ' 1st. It formed, or at least appeared gradually, at a stationary point in the 

 sky, and from the moment it first became visible, until it burst and took 

 motion, the period was 1 minute 45 seconds. 



" ' 2nd. The motion of its main body was so deliberate that it lasted 45 sees. 



" ' 3rd. At the place of its gradual formation the appearance of a luminous 

 disc, equal to 1° in the heavens, was left after it took flight, which luminous 

 disc, with the line of its flight to the eastward, and also the course of its de- 

 scending coloured rain, though all of them, gradually decreasing, continued 

 visible fully 3 minutes after the primary body had disappeared.' 



" Perfect reliance may be placed on these observations, and especially on 

 the duration of time elapsed between each feature, as Mr. Weekes has been 

 accustomed to count seconds in his astronomical observations." 



