Great American Mctcur of' 1822. \ 17 



peared of various sizes : some stating its apparent diameter 

 at six feet ; many comparing its size to that of the moon : 

 whilst to others, who were still more distant from it, it had 

 the appearance of a large shooting star. 



It is described by every one as having been of extreme 

 brilliancy; and that it must indeed have been intensely vivid, 

 is evident from the circumstance, that the impression produced 

 by it on the eye of one observer induced him to state, " that it 

 was more brilliant than the most vivid flashes of lightning, or 

 even the meridian sun." And though the contrast of its splen- 

 dour with the previous darkness of night doubtless had its 

 share in producing such an impression, yet there are various 

 instances on record of meteors displaying great brilliancy 

 even when opposed to the meridian sun. The meteor ob- 

 served at Cambridge in 1818 by the late Dr. Clarke, and that 

 seen in Bretagne in 1684 by the Abbe de 1' Anion, were of 

 this description. The most intense light of the American 

 meteor, as in other cases, appears to have been emitted at the 

 time immediately prior to the visible effects of its explosion : 

 thus at Quebec, from which place it must have been very di- 

 stant, having been seen there and at Montreal nearly in the same 

 direction, and where " the sky was clear, and the moon nearly 

 at full, in an opposite direction,— the light of the meteor when 

 it divided was so strong as entirely to destroy the shadows 

 of the moon-light and throw them into a contrary direction." 

 The visible explosion of this meteor is variously described by 

 the different observers. Mr. Doty relates " that it soon be- 

 gan to extend itself to the north-east and south-west, increas- 

 ing in extension, and decreasing in its flaming appearance, 

 until nothing was to be seen but two detached parts of it ra- 

 pidly moving in different directions towards the north-east and 

 sonth-west." A writer in the Sangersjield (Oneida) Intelli- 

 gencer states, " that it burst with a violence which seemed to 

 throw all nature into convulsions. It discharged its massy 

 balls of electric fire in every direction, when all disappeared 

 before they reached the ground." Another observer com- 

 pares these appearances to the coruscations of a rocket; and 

 at Quebec « it divided into numberless pieces, having the ap- 

 pearance of the stars usually thrown from sky-rockets, but of 

 a superior brilliancy and beauty, the whole disappearing be- 

 fore they reached the horizon." When first observed by 

 Colonel Page, of Burlington in the state of Vermont, it ap- 

 peared like a common shooting star, which, moving south- 

 westerly, passing a little south-east of Proci/on, when about 

 one-third ol the way from Procyon to Sirius, suddenly broke 

 out in great splendour, continued its course, flashing and 



sparkling, 



