and on Shooting Stars in general. 231 
observed in a vertical plane, and no part of that observed in a hor- 
izontal plane. 
iyze, although certainly very remarkable, was not. unlike some 
others on record. In the London Philosophical. Transactions for 
1759, is an account of a meteor which appeared in Great Britain, 
Nov. 26, 1758. It moved in a direction N. W. by N., describing. 
a path of about 400 miles. It shot obliquely daemounin being 
from 90 to 100 miles high at its origin, and from 26 to 32 at its 
termination. Its velocity was computed at 30 miles per second. 
Its diameter was estimated at certainly not less than half a mile, 
and probably greater. Its path deviated sensibly from a straight 
line, and a report, like a clap of thunder, was heard from it several 
minutes after the meteor disappeared. in the Philosophical 'Trans- 
actions for 1784, are several notices of a meteor seen in England, 
August 18, 1783. Its direction was nearly S.S.E. Its path was 
computed to have been at least 1000 miles in length, sensibly 
crooked, though nearly parallel with the surface of the earth, and 
elevated more than 50 miles. Its diameter was about half a mile, 
and velocity not less than twenty miles per second. A number of 
minutes after the meteor’s disappearance, there was heard a rum- 
bling noise like that of distant thunder. Both of these meteors 
broke into several fragments, which falling behind, formed a pe- 
culiar train. They appear to have been quite similar to the me- 
teor of May 18th, and as the fact of a rumbling noise succeeding 
their appearance seems to be well attested in both cases, it is a 
little remarkable that nothing of the kind was noticed in the late 
meteor. It is doubtful, however, whether any observer watched 
long enough to be able to. decide that no such report succeeded. ~ 
It may be useful to give here a summary of our knowledge re- 
specting common shooting stars, that we may decide whether all 
these meteors are. to be ranked in the same class. In the year 
1798, Benzenberg and Brandes undertook in concert a series of ob- 
3 servations on shooting stars near Gottingen, in Germany: They 
= at which they observed simultaneously several nights. After 
three nights’ watching, finding their stations too near each other, 
they removed one of them to the distance of nine and a third 
English miles. On comparing their observations, they found 
: of which they were able to compute the height for at least a part 
The meteor whose phenomena I have thus attempted to ana- 
first took stations five and a half English miles from each other, _ 
twenty-two which had probably been seen at both stations, and 
ae : 
: : 
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