146 Mr. Farexj, on Shooting-Stars, Meteon, &'c. [Sept. J, 



tcciA its pcrprTidiculiir the height of the 

 rneteor ttl)o\e liit- place over n/iich it 

 patltd exactly : as'cl sipply, by nieunb ot" 

 !i iciilc aiid compaHeSj'tlie nuiiiljcrb given 

 above as cliicci cliihiiiccb, aiii'vvciiiig to 

 1, 2, 3, &iC. miU'S of height, fucd'Huoly 

 ab liypotlicmifeb, we (hall iiiid that 2.V50J 

 niiles (anlVvcriiig to 51 miles liigh, and. a 

 velocity of 4'958 niilcb per feoond) cor- 

 »cfpondb, as iitarly as is noccliary in this 

 cafe, to 5J niilo> as a pi rpendicular : the 

 mealured . bale of this triangle being 

 nearly 24$ miles, the fnppofed diftanee of 

 the place, o\cr\vliich the meteor vvas when 

 flboi:t fonth of l^ondoii, which, mcaiurcd 

 on Cary's large map of England, on the 

 ibutl) meridian ot J.ondon, gives us the 

 fonthcrn boundary of the county of 

 Surrey, nearly in a line between Ilyegate 

 and (Juckiield, as a point over «hich the 

 meteor probably palled. 



'J"he above was written, and followed 

 up by the mention of the names of iix- 

 teen towns and places in a N. W. line of 

 direction, (fee page lO'),) pafling ihrougli 

 the point mentioned, before 1 had heard 

 or read of this meteor being fecn by any 

 one out of the limits of Lonilon ; before, , 

 however, I loft town, 1 was inforuKal. 

 that one of the ncwfpapers hail mention- 

 t'd its being foeii at Oxfitrd; and 1 have 

 fnice been told by Sir. Cunily the archi- 

 tc<^t, that fome of his workmen at Mid- 

 dleton-fioiiey, the feat of Earl Jcrfey in 

 Oxfordfliire, law the meteor pafs with ii 

 very low elevation to the \vellw;ud of, 

 them. 



While in Suflex, I met with fcvoral' 

 pcrfons who faw it, but none, except 

 two, were in favourable litnations, as 

 To buildings or fixed objei'ts, for de- 

 frribing its rourfe and elevation to nie ; 

 one of thelic', IVTr. Thomas Blower, the 

 butler to Lord t^helheld, at his feat at 

 .ShelUeld PlaQC, fortunately law the courfe 

 of the meteor over Ir-'iieilield Jlonfe, from 

 a fituation in which it wits Jiot eafy for 

 hiia to err many degrees, when pointing 

 out its courib to mo on the evcHinf; of 

 the 2Clth : at which time the fituution of 

 the moon en«]»les mc to calculate, tiiat 

 he firft efpied the meteor about ^9" R. 

 of the S^ niercdian, at an elevation of 

 18° ; and that, in a vilible (haiijhr courfo 

 of 40° oi- '10° (before it paiTcd behind 

 fome large irees), it palled, as hejudgrd, 

 nearly parallel with the horizon. Mr. 

 B. defcribcd the appearance of this me- 

 teor to be, like that of a large piece of 

 iron in a \ihito heat, jull taken from a 

 fmith'b forge : befidis its conical tail of 

 light, he law the appearance of Ipui'ks- 



falling obliquely behind it ; he heiird uu 

 noifes, as he did on the l.'illi of iSovem- 

 ber, 180J, from the great meteor whicli 

 he then faw from Shellield Park, (a de- 

 fcription of whole \ifible courfe- in Lon- 

 don 1 gave in Xiciiolton's Journal, Qvo. 

 vul. vii paire titi). The other perfoii 

 mentioned who faw the late meteor was 

 Edward Packhani, an intelligent farm-fer- 

 vant, at the Earl of Cb.ichefter's li-at at 

 Ntanmer, who was ftamling near tn lii:i 

 J.ordlhip's flables, and faw it pais over 

 them, in a track which he pointed out to 

 me oil the evening of the 4th inftant : 

 the polition of the bright (lar aluir, in 

 the condellation of the Eagle at that 

 time, enables me to calculate that E. P. 

 fuft faw the meteor about 5-J° to the E. 

 of the fouth meridian, at 36° of eleva- 

 tion ; that it rofe thence by a courfe 

 nearly ftraiglit of about 42° in length ; 

 when, being about 12° high, and nearly 

 S., it difappeared behind a clunip of high 

 trees; and, as in i\Ir. Blower's oblerv- 

 ations above, its motion w;ib fo fwiftthat 

 it had vauillied before he cotdd movt: 

 fuliiciently to clear the trees. 



According to Cary's map, the direft 

 diflancc of the two places above men- 

 tioned isvdjout 10 7 miles, and in a line 

 26° to tl.r weft of the S., palling nearly 

 ovei- the town of Brighton : a dire(!"ti(ni 

 ralhcr unfavourable for comparifuii, be- 

 caufe the beli-deilncd of tliefe obferva- 

 tions, as alfo by JNIr. EoUtr in Lambeth, 

 were feveral degrees to the eali (.■•f the 

 S. Allowing for the riling courfe of the 

 meteor whesi on the meridian at-Slan- 

 mer, t\c ma;: fuppofe 44° to be its alti- 

 tude when it had 26° W. azimuth ; and 

 thus M'c obtain a ))lanc triangle, whole 

 bale is lO'T miles, the angles at its bale 

 18° (the angle of « levation at .Shel'icid 

 i'lace), and i;;6° (the fujjplcnieut of the 

 elevation at .'^taniner, when the meteor 

 croflcd their line of direction) ; aniL, by 

 calculation, the perpendicular of li/isis 

 found 5-24 nnks, tor the height of the 

 uttiteor above the furtiice of tht: ^-arth ; 

 and the perpendicular is found to fall 

 0'43 miles beyond tiic bale of the tii- 

 anglc ; which, meafured on Gary's mai>, 

 gives a point in tlie O'-eiut about ]f miles 

 from Brighton in nearly a S.S.W. diiec- 

 tion, o\ or which, according to tliefe cal- 

 cul.-itions, the mcteur palled at 5\ miles 

 high ; inliead of palliiig over Pevenfey 

 liarhonr,. as I conjei'tured when writing 

 lall month (page lO-l) from the Lond<,n 

 obfervatious oidy, which were inade- 

 quate to dctcnuiue liii* point to greater 

 e.\<iCliJfcfs. 



