380 Miscellanies. 
to have an eye upon the stars, especially the latter half of each 
night, for several nights preceding and following that. 
In order that every part of the firmament might receive its due 
share of attention, our company, eight in number, divided itself into 
four parties, allotting two to each quarter of the heavens. ‘To Mr. 
R. B. Claxton and myself was assigned the southeastern quarter ; 
to Messrs. A. B. Haile and E. C. Herrick, the northeastern; to 
Messrs. E. Strong and D. T. Stoddard, the northwestern ; and to 
Messrs. H. L. Smith and E. P. Mason, the southwestern. Each 
party selected a separate station for itself, and arranged to keep an 
accurate record of its observations. 
The early part of the evening afforded some signals of promise. 
A copious rain which fell on the preceding night, attended by an 
easterly wind, had given place to a serene sky with the wind at the 
west ; from the setting sun diverged six large columns of a rose col- 
ored vapor; and, before six o’clock, an auroral pillar of a crimson 
hue presented itself in the northwest; but before seven o'clock, 
every unusual appearance had eainiched. and left an unclouded sky. 
The full moon, however, shone with so strong a light as almost to 
hide the stars, permitting none to be seen below the third magni- 
tude, and scarcely any indeed at so hasty a glance as the eye must 
take to observe the transient flash of ordinary shooting stars. Of 
course, no meteors but those of unusual brightness could be seen. 
From the early part of the evening, a constant watch was main- 
tained; but the several parties were not at their respective posts 
until about midnight. From this period, until broad day light, the 
observers were constantly in the open air, gazing, without intermis- 
sion, upon the quarter of the heavens respectively assigned to them.* 
No shooting stars were observed until five minutes past one o’clock, 
when they began to appear at considerable intervals. On collect- 
ing and comparing all the observations, we arrived at the following 
results. 
—_—— 
* We should not have thought it necessary to trouble the reader with the nar- 
ration of all these circumstances, except by way of apology for having seen more 
shooting stars than were seen in other places. To some who have averred that 
stant gaze with the neck bent backwards, for six hours or more, in a frosty night, 
is the kind of etiquette they exact, 
