1806.") Mr. Farej), on SJwoting-Stars, MeteorSy Kc. 



147 



TJic coincidence of the hcis;lit of the 

 meteor, witliin iialf a mile, tVuni two iiie- 

 thodii of calculiitio!! fo very ditlurcnt, is 

 to me ii confirmation that the fame is 

 nearly ajiproximated ; and, from many 

 conlideracions, I am now inclined to 

 tliink that the meteor palicd lix. or i'even 

 miles farther to the wefiv.ard, when the 

 iieareft to Jxjndon (heini; then iu u S. W. 

 direction therefrom, nearly), than is men- 

 tioned page 101, and that .Steyniag, Cio- 

 dalming, llciulnig, >\'allingford, Abinjf- 

 don, Witney, Stou on the VN'old, iMore- 

 ton, Evelliani, Dioitwich, Riddcrminlter, 

 Shrewflnny, Ofweltry, Llanj^ollen, and 

 Abergclly or Aberconw y, are towns fitii- 

 ated near its vertical track : — to the cu- 

 rious au<i fcientific in and near which I 

 liecr to addiefs mylelf, and requeil, 

 tlironch the medimn of your nl'efui and 

 popiUar work, that they will communicate, 

 iiiiy correct particulars which they can 

 collect, that may tend to point out its 

 cxait courle and elevation in traverlhi;^ 

 KiiijIiUid and Wales : liiould it ;>lfu have 

 liavc heen obfcrved in the X. J'-, parts of 

 Ireland, or in croffing France and the 

 other continental ftates, foinc curious 

 readers of your jMa^azinc will, I hope, 

 there be found to tranfmit obfervatious 

 thereon. 



To many perfons, my calculations and 

 (leducfions on this fuliject will ttoubtlcfs 

 appear fanciful, and perhaps excite ridi- 

 cule: if however they lliouKl be the means 

 of brinjiing forth conxft olifervaf ions, 

 cither to contradict or coniirni the above, 

 I lliall be equally well pleated, and amply 

 compenfated ; having truth folely in my 

 Ticw, and the extenlion of the bounds of 

 our knowledi;(; on this curious and ne- 

 glected hibjert.* 



IMore corrtot d;ita would render it 

 woitli while to go deeper into the calcu- 

 lations, and remove forae objections, 

 which no doubt your mathematical read- 

 ers will fee, to the approximations wliich 

 I have nfed, conceivinsr tl'.em futhciently 

 exact tljr the preient purpofe. 



^Vilen we confider, that the utmort: ve- 

 locity V. hich can be !j;ivcn to bullets or to 

 cannon balls is about 'ZOUO feet pel- fc- 

 fond, or -'oTO decim;il parts of a mile, 

 "(wiiile the mean velocily of the M(jon iu 

 her orbit is '00.5 parts of a mile, or nearly 



twice as mucli per fecond) ; and that 

 even the expanllon of the llanie of gun- 

 powder is fnppofed by ^Ir. Robins not; to 

 exceed 1-326 miles per fecond ; S^ times 

 which, or 13 times the utinolt velocity of 

 military projectiles, is but about 4-95S 

 miles per fecond, the rate at which it is 

 probable this meteor was mo\ iug! Cou- 

 liderations like thefe v\il!, I think, lead 

 ti} the exchilion of any other origin to ha. 

 altigned to the motion of lltootinij-ftars,. 

 meteors, and metcoric-Uones ())revjous 

 to their fall), than an' impnlfe given by 

 tlio Deity on the peculiar matters oJ' 

 which thi? hdr kind are coinpofed, coeval 

 with, and Uuiilar to the [u-ojeCtilc motions 

 of the jjlanets, this earth and their fa- 

 tillitcs, in unrefifting media; in which, 

 they have ever lince the creation main- 

 tauied an undiminilhed rate of revolution 

 in their orbits, :is far at Icaft as we caa, 

 obferve: while fuch of the _/(/^t'//i^«/.s of. 

 the earth, as by dipping, uito its atmo-. 

 fphere, v\ hen in pcrciiio in each revolu-, 

 tion, have met with reliilance therefroiu, 

 and probably alfo have been diltributeii 

 into fm;iller malies by the heatin;^ clfetts 

 of its oxygen gas upon them, are pvo- 

 grellively palUu;^ through the gradations 

 of Ihooting-llars and meteors, and at 

 lcn»th fall to the earth as meteunc- 

 llonts. 



The rotation of the atniofphere along' 

 with the emth, acting in this cfil'e by its 

 refiftance and impulfe, in about an angle 

 of 1.7° on tha motion of the meteor, 

 n)nlt ha\e had a fenlible efl'ect in chan- 

 ging the plane of its orbit, retarding its 

 motion, and accelerating its fall. The 

 rotation of thfe earth will alfo explain, 

 why meteors have not been hitherto ob- 

 fcrved in their fuccelUve revolutions : the 

 prefcnt metcoi-, llippoliug it to have re- 

 turned iu its orbit at intervals of 1 b. 

 U-i m., as calculated above, yet, in fix-' 

 veral fuccecdiug revolutions, after that 

 which v/e have noticed, it \'.oukl pafs over 

 the great Atkuilic Ocean, unobferved m 

 all probability. — I ihall now apologize tor 

 the great length of tliis letter, a'ud rp- 

 nuuu Yours, 6zc. 



John FAnEv". 

 12, I'jiper Cronn-flrect, TTiJlminJIer, 

 Ansi'jl 12, ViOO. 



* Which may, perhaps, hcreaiter. prove Irr-^tum, p.ige 10.> (No. I4f.), toi-Heory 



highly ulcful, in ftndins of the longitude Faiy. '"^ John Farcy ; ai.-d int; Htx-aciz 

 With great cxactiicfs. " read Hubtit. . , • 



