158 Meteorology. 



one-tenth, the olscurat'wn will l)e as great as if central. This 

 eclipse, after traversing; the expansimn from the creation of tlie 

 world, first came in at the south pole of the earth about 88 years 

 after the Conquest, or in the last of Kiua; i\tep!ien's reifin, since 

 which time it lias proceeded more northerly, and will finally leave 

 the earth at the Noith Pole, A.D. 2090, whence no n)ore retnrns 

 of this eclipse will take place from the latter period till after a 

 revolution of 12.300 years. 



I am, sir, yours respectfully, 

 Lynn Pwegis, Aug. 15, ISfjO. JamES UttiNG. 



COMliTS. 

 M. Encke, Assistant Director of the Observatory at Gotha, has 

 traced out the track of the comet which appeared in 178(i, 1795, 

 1805 and 1819. It is by means of an ellipsis of an uncommon 

 form, if not al)solute!y unique, that the orbit of this bodv (rather 

 to be reckoned among the planets than comets) has been traced. 

 That thi> bodv is not self luminous, may be considered as fully 

 ascertained. That the tail or radiance emanating from it, was 

 a lucid vapour through which rays of light passed, cannot be 

 doubted, and so probably is the tail of all comets ; and if confi- 

 dence might be placed in an accidental observation of the face 

 of the sun, at the time when, by calculation, this l)ody should 

 have been passing over it, the bodv was also diaj)lianous ; — 

 otherwise it was so small as to escape the notice of tiie observer, 

 wlu) was then most intent on examining the spots visible on the 

 face of the sun. 



^ METKOr.lC SUBSTANCES. 



A meteoric stone, which fell in India on the ISth of February 

 1315, is now in the East India Company's Museum. The fol- 

 lowing particnlai-s are extracted from a letter to Major Penning- 

 ton by Capt. G. Bird : — " On the above day, about noon, some 

 people at work in a field near, about half a mile from the village 

 of Dooralla*, were suddenly alarmed by an explosion which 

 they conceived to be cf a large cannon, succeeded by a rushing 

 noise like that of a cannon ball in its greatest iorce. Turning 

 their eyes towards the quarter whence the sound proceeded, they 

 saw a large black body in the air, apparently moving directly 

 towards them: it passed them with inconceivable velocity, and 

 buried itself in the earth at the distance of aliout sixty paces 

 from the spot where they stood. As soon as their terror would 

 suffer them, they ran to the village, where they found the people 

 no less terrified than tliemselves, from an apprehen^'ion (for they 

 had not seen the meteorolite) that an armed marauding party 

 was approaching. When the Brahmins of the village were told 



* In the territory belonging to the Pattialah Rajah. 



what 



