Fire-balls seen in America /;/ 1819. 113 



&c. in countries where meteorological observations are not 

 commonly pursued. 



So extensive an arrangement of new facts and observations 

 as that which I have ventured to suggest, would obviously 

 be a work of considerable labour, and would require the con- 

 joint attention of inquirers into the various branches of me- 

 teorology: and as the expediency of its preparation, amongst 

 other matters of a collateral and subordinate nature, may 

 hereafter become a subject of consideration with the Council, 

 when the primary object of our association, that of "establishing 

 a Meteorological Observatory, and instituting operations to 

 be conducted with undeniable accuracy, and with instruments 

 of standard excellence," shall have been carried into effect ; 

 I shall here terminate these remarks ; and proceed to lay be- 

 fore you a sketch of the progress which has been made, during 

 the past year, in a branch of the science to which I have lately 

 devoted some attention, and a work on which I am preparing 

 for the press, viz. that which relates to the phasnomena of 

 igneous meteors and their products. 



I shall first pass in review, in a succinct manner, the princi- 

 pal new facts, and results of induction from them, respecting 

 igneous meteors and meteorites, which have been made known 

 to the cultivators of science during the year 1823; and then 

 proceed to describe the chief phenomena of that nature ob- 

 served during the same period. Some inquiries of an inter- 

 esting character will suggest themselves as we proceed : and I 

 shall have the pleasure of communicating various facts of foreign 

 observation which have not yet appeared in any of our philo- 

 sophical journals ; together with a few results of my own in- 

 quiries. 



§ 1. P?-ogress of Science respecting Igneous Meteors during the 

 Year 1823. 



Accounts of the fire-balls which were seen in the States of 

 Ohio and Pennsylvania in 1819, have been published by Pro- 

 fessor Silliman ; together with a valuable collection of obser- 

 vations on the splendid meteor of that description which was 

 beheld over a great extent of country in the United States, 

 and also in Canada, on the 9th of March 1822. 



The first, which appeared in the evening of the 24th of July 

 1819, is described by Dr. Henry Manning of Youngstown, 

 Ohio, as a large meteor pursuing its course through the at- 

 mosphere in a direction nearly north. He had a clear view 

 of it for a few seconds before its explosion, and at that time; 

 and about three minutes, by estimation, after the visible ex- 

 plosion, he lie-art! the report, which resembled that of a heavy 



Vol. 64. No. SI 6. due. 1824. P cannon 



