40 REPORT — 1851. 



No. 4. — Letter to Prof. Powell from Rev. J. Irwin. 



" Vicarage, Steeple Claydon, Aug. 2D, 1850. 

 " Sir,— In reply to j-our communication, I beg to say that the shower of 

 shooting stars I saw on the night of the 12th of August, at about 20 minutes 

 before 12, was not in the south-western, as misprinted in the ' Times/ but in 

 the south-eastern horizon, a little to the eastward of south. I was walking; 

 home with some friends on that night, and our attention was attracted by 

 the beauty and brilliancy of several of these meteors, which we observed, 

 each exclaiming ' How beautiful ! I never saw anything like that ; ' but, a ' 

 the period I have mentioned, there was a perfect shower of them, all issuing 

 as it seemed, from the same tract, and taking nearly the same direction to 

 wards the horizon, above which they were but a very few degrees, I cannot 

 state with accuracy how many. It seemed to us something like the finale 

 of a display of fireworks, if one could conceive them taking the same direc ■ 

 tion instead of diverging at aU points. 



" I remain, yours faithfully, 



" John J. lawiN." 



" Toronto, Canada, Oct. 13th. 

 No. 6. — " Curious Meteoric Phanomenon. — On Sunday evening, about six 

 o'clock, a very brilliant meteoric ball darted forth from the zenith, and 

 descended about half-way towards tlie horizon. It then burst as if it had 

 been a rocket, displaying all the varied and beautiful shades of the rainbow. 

 The sky at the time was clear and cloudless, the stars were shining prettily, 

 but the dazzling glare of the meteor seemed for the moment to throw them 

 into the shade." — Globe, Oct. 19, 1850. 



No. 7. — Letters from Mr. G. A. Rowell. 



" Alfred Street, Oxford, Dec. 2, 1850. 



" Rev. Sir, — On Friday evening, November 23, about half-past seven 

 o'clock, I was on the Woodstock road, a little north of the Observatory, 

 when I saw a very beautiful meteor in the westward ; it descended at a 

 moderate pace, through about 15° of space, alm.ost in a perpendicular direc- 

 tion, but a little towards the north. It appeared about double the diameter 

 of Venus when at her brightest, was of a bright white or bluish colour, and 

 left behind it a brilliant train which was distinctly visible throughout the 

 whole space through which the meteor had passed, for full six seconds. The 

 meteor did not seem to explode, but disappeared at a point exactly between 

 the two stars n and y Aquilse. 



" The same evening, about nine o'clock, a large meteor was seen descend- 

 ing also nearly perpendicular in the west. This was observed by a person 

 in the Town Hall during the lecture, and must have been bright to attract 

 the attention from a room so lighted. 



" Again, about half-past eleven o'clock the same night, my wife was sitting 

 by the fire with a lighted candle, when she was startled by a bright light, 

 and, looking up, saw a very brilliant meteor pass the window from west to 

 east, almost in a horizontal direction, but rather downwards. This meteor 

 was seen bj' a very intelliger.t person in St. Clement's, who noticed its course 

 with respect to certain stars, and can point out the direction. It was also 

 noticed by several of the night-police men, and all describe it as having the 

 appearance of a Roman candle of a bright bluish tint. 



" Aly wife had, previously to this evening, told me of a very bright meteor 

 about a quarter past ten o'clock on the night before, i.e. the 26th, not so 

 large as the one on the 2E)th, but very much more so than usual. 



