108, REPORT—1850. 
tion N.N.E. * * * * My correspondent (Mr. Hill of Swansea) * * * * says 
it was considerably below the Polar star; the weather was cloudy; but he 
concludes it was near the lowermost conspicuous stars in Ursa Major. It 
appears his account was gathered from different observers. 
“ Yours very truly, 
“W. R. Grove.” 
No. 6.—Letter from W. R. Birt, Esq. to Prof. Powell. 
“ Observatory, Old Deer Park, Richmond, Surrey, Dee. 5, 1849. 
“‘My dear Sir,—On the evening of my arrival here I observed a shooting 
star, which in its features bore very materially on the stars 6, Nos. 4 and 5 in 
my former communication*. I annex a copy of my original memorandum 
made at the time. 
“« Nov. 2,1849, 64 5™ by estimation.—Observed a shooting star pass about 
two-thirds of the distance between Saturn and y Pegasi; nearest the star and 
above Saturn the direction was nearly horizontal towards the south. I par- 
ticularly observed that this star did not present the same brilliancy throughout 
its course, being once or twice NEARLY extinguished, but not entirely so, so that 
the identity of' the star was preserved. It disappeared some distance west of 
y Pegasi. Colour and magnitude blue, small, and very variable in its 
brillianey.’ 
« Dr. Lee has communicated to me the following very interesting observa- 
tion of ashooting star, by Mr. Horton, his assistant. I give you it verbatim, 
as I received it :— 
«<< October 20th, 1849.—Observed a very brilliant shooting star, which was 
visible three or four seconds, almost due west, about half-way between the 
horizon and the zenith at 8° 30™ p.m. When first seen it appeared thus ἣν 
it afterwards burst, and at that moment the whole appeared as follows \y" 
«« {Jn a memorandum added by Dr. Lee is the following remark ;—‘ It was 
about an hour preceding the star a Aquile.’ 
«J have been very unfortunate in observing these interesting bodies since 
I have been here. On the 14th of November, in the evening, I looked occa- 
sionally for them, but saw only two. My son, who was on the roof with me 
at the same time, saw six. From all the information I have received, it ap-" 
pears that while they have not been abundant at the November epoch, the 
character of periodicity has been maintained. 
“1 have the honour to be, my dear Sir, 
“ Yours very respectfully, 
« Rev. Prof. Powell.” OW. KR Borer 
No. 7.—Extract from Mr. Lowe’s MS. communication. 
“ Nov. 5th, 68 20™.—The meteor fell at a tolerable pace, leaving a thin 
pencil of red light in the sky in the whole extent of its path, which was 50° 
in length. This pencil of light lasted visible five minutes, becoming gradu- 
ally fainter, and altering from a straight line, in 2™ 308, to that of a series of 
waves, thus :— 0“ YY Y YY YY aes and in another mi- 
nute these became twice the width “\_/\ \_S)N_ SAI ™ 
The width of the line of light when first formed was=to that of Vega, but now, 
from the apex of the one wave to that of the opposite wave, it was 36! (or 
* See Report, British Association, 1849, p. 50. 
a 
a 
