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'December 30. — New York city. Meteor or shooting star at 8 p. m. from tail of 

 Great Bear. 



December 31. — Fort Riley, Kansas. Meteor or shooting star in the southeast 

 at 9J p. m., falling in a westerly direction. 



Meteor seen in New Brunswick and Nora Scotia on the twenty -first of Decem- 

 ber, 1863. 



Mr. G. Miirdock, superintendent of the water works at Saint John, New 

 Brunswick, furnishes the following account of a remarkable phenomenon wit- 

 nessed by a number of persons in the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick on the night of the 21st of December. 



On the 21st a very large and lumiuous meteor was seen about 11 p.m. and 

 viewed from this city ; its course appeared to be from about SW. to NE. The 

 writer of these notes had not the good fortune to see this rare phenomenon, nor 

 to meet any one who had such a view of it as to be able to describe with unre- 

 liable accuracy the manner of its appi'oach and appearance when first and last 

 seen. Many, however, saw and were startled by its flashing dazzling light, 

 which is said to have been of a bluish color and to have resembled immense 

 sheets of lightning. Its power was felt in closely-curtained rooms as well as in 

 the open air, and after it had passed there was a deep sense of darkness which 

 neither the clear rays of a full moon outside nor light gas inside could at once 

 dispel. No noise was heard, nor from this city were any balls of fire or stars 

 observed to shoot off" from the main body of the meteor. The night was cold 

 and clear. Tliermometer about 6^ above zero, and wind light NW. The ba- 

 rometer had been pretty steady all day, and at 10 p. m. read 29.S74 inches cor- 

 rected for temj)erature. The following day was cold and clouded, but there was 

 httle variation in the pressure of the atmosphere. 



The following particulars of the progress and appearance of this meteor, as. 

 observed at different points, may be worthy of record. 



At Halifax, Nova Scotia, (about 125 miles in an air line E. SE. of St. John,) 

 it was reported to be seen at the same hour, lip. m., but its course was described to 

 be from SW. to E. Its flashings were quick and brilliant, but no sounds or 

 sparks were noticed. 



An observer at Parsboro', Nova Scotia, (about 80 miles E. by N. of St- 

 John,) says in one of the Halifax papers that it was "similar to an immense 

 ball of fire, and for three several times it threw out brilliant sparks of fire in 

 every direction, causing at the same time three distinct intense illuminations. 

 The sky during these flashes was entirely overpowered with a bluish flame, 

 through which the moon could scarcely be discerned. "When the illumination 

 ceased, so great had been the light that the sky appeared to have been almost 

 pitch dark. In about one minute and a half there was a report sounding much 

 like a heavy cannon. It awoke people from their sleep, and shook houses like 

 an earthquake. A strong smell of brimstone pervaded the atmosphere, produc- 

 ing a suffocating feeling." 



Again, at Amherst, Nova Scotia, about 90 miles in an air line E. by N. of St. 

 John, it is reported by another writer to have "crossed the zenith about S. to 

 N., about two seconds elapsing before its disappearance. The nucleus appeared 

 to the eye of a spectator to be the size of a barrel, and to have a tail like a 

 comet or rocket, the rapidity of whose flight it about equalled. The sky was 

 cloudless, except at the south, where a small cloud appeared extending a few 

 degrees above the horizon. Although the moon was at the full, and snow cov- 

 ered the ground, such was the intense brilliancy of the meteor that for miles 

 round the interior of every house Avas lit up as if by a noonday sun, and the 

 flash was more stai'tlingly bright than the most vivid lightning on a dark night. 



