130 _ Meteor of Dec. 14, 1837. 
Arr. XII.—Account of a Meteor seen in Connecticut, December 
14, 1837 ; with some considerations on the Meteorite which ex- 
ploded near Weston, Dec. 14, 1807; by Enwarn C. Herrick, 
Rec. Sec. Conn. Acad. 
On the evening of Thursday, the 14th of December, 1837, a 
meteoric fire-ball of great splendor, was seen by many persons in 
this vicinity. At the time of its appearance, Mr. A. B. Haile and 
myself were abroad here, engaged in making observations on 
shooting stars in concert with Messrs. I", A. P. Barnard, J. D. Dana, 
and J. H. Pettingell, in New York. Our attention was exclu- 
sively directed to the northeastern part of the heavens, and the 
western quarter, in which the meteor appeared, was unfortunately 
concealed from view at our station by a contiguous building. A 
brilliant flash suddenly illuminated the roof on which we stood, 
and concluding at once that the unseen source of the light must 
be a meteor of uncommon splendor, we noted the time. It was 
7h. 39m. 32s. P. M. 
I was not able, after much inquiry, to ascertain the position of 
_the meteor at its first appearance. The testimony of two inde- 
pendent witnesses several rods distant from each other, near the 
middle of this city, coincided as to the azimuth of the point of 
extinction, and furnished me with data for fixing it at 8. 89° W. 
_ The altitude was less certain, but appeared to be about 9°. 
The meteor was much more splendid than Venus. It was ap- 
parently, according to the estimates of different observers, from 
one fourth to three fourths as large as the full moon. It mov 
downwards from a point between S. and W. at an angle of from 
30° to 50° with a vertical, to the point before indicated, where it 
appeared to explode, and to throw down one or more large frag- 
ments. ‘The time of flight was 1 or 1.5 seconds. It was attended 
by a long and broad train of scintillations, some part of which re- 
mained visible for about ten seconds, and of course, long after the 
meteor was extinct. It is uncertain whether the report of the 
explosion was heard here. If audible at this distance, the sound 
would not have arrived until two or three minutes after the disap- 
pearance of the meteor, and unless very heavy, it might easily 
have passed unnoticed amidst the noise of the city. 
