luminous Meteors called Falling Slars. 419 



thirteen years kept a journal of atmospherical phaenomena, and 

 at the same time have collected from the ancient writings of the 

 Greek and Roman philosophers, whatever I could find that might 

 bear on the object of my researches. For, disregarding all 

 theories, the extreme accuracy of the observations of the Greek 

 meteorologists renders them worthy of being referred to. 



My own observations on falling stars have enabled me to divide 

 them into three principal sorts. Of these three sorts, the largest 

 are very brilliant and give considerable light: they move in 

 curved as well as in straight lines, generally sloping downwards, 

 and seldom very rapidly. The colour of their light is bright 

 white, yellowish, or blueish, and very rarely copper coloured. They 

 occur mostly on fine warm summer evenings when waneclouds 

 abound ; they seem to leave no train behind in general ; when they 

 do, it is under circumstances of peculiarity of atmosphere. 



The next sort are much smaller, and occur in clear cold and 

 frosty nights, both in winter and summer; and also in warm 

 weather when east winds prevail. They shoot along with great 

 rapidity, and leave no train, except such as I can refer to an effect 

 produced on the retina of the eve by the rapid passage of the 

 light; — such a deceptio visus, for example, as Homer ascribes to 

 the SoAf^otrxfOV sy^og. 



The third sort of meteors are small in general like the last, but 

 are distinguished by leaving a long train of light behind them, 

 which lasts some seconds after the star is extinguished. This 

 kind almost always forebode windy weather ; and when they oc- 

 cur, I have noticed that all meteors which happen on the same 

 evening leave the aforesaid long white tails behind them. These 

 long tracts of white light are accurately noticed by Virgil in Gear. 

 lib. i. 



" Sajpe etiam Stellas, vento impendente, videbis 

 Prsecipites coolo labi, noctisque per umbram 

 Flanimarum longos a tergo albcsccre tractua. " 



But Aratus the astronomical poet has given a still more beau- 

 tiful and accurate description of them. The following passage 

 occurs somewhere in the Diosemea : 



Tug^eci roi 8' ottSsv j«,'JgO( y7roXsux«<v«;vT«/, 

 Je(0cX9«t XBtvot; wjti^v ooov ep^ofj-zvoio 

 nvBviJ.oiTog. 



Very copious observations on their aj)pearance and indications 



mav also be found in Flin. H. N. xviii. 'A'). — Aristot. Meteor. 



lib. i. c. 1. — Lucrct. ii. 20f), and v. 1 190. — Seneca Nat. Qua^st. 



i. 14. liefer aLo to licrlholon. Klect. Met. Lyons, 17^ i, and 



3 G 2 to 



