2 
es 
te . = ; P = 
—. e  Miscellanies. 
was clear for only about an hour, viz. between three-quarters past one 
and two, when but one meteor was seen. The second was clear until 
half past two; but not even an ordinary average number of meteors 
Was seen. : S 
On the authority of a letter from Mr. Levett Harris, Dr. Bache re- 
ported the decease of Mr. F. H. Le Comte, of Paris, a member of the 
Society. 
December 21, 1838.—The Committee on the solar eclipse of the 
18th of September, made a further Report in part, comprising the 
following observations, received through the attentions of their cor- 
respondent, Prof. S. Alexander, of Princeton College, New Jersey :— 
No. 32, by Prof. Augustus A. Smith, of the Wesleyan University, 
Middletown, Conn. Latitude 41° 33’ 8’ N.: longitude as deduced by 
himself from this observation, by the method of Woolhouse, in the 
Nautical Almanac for 1837, 4h. 50m. 2s. W. 
Bo SS, 
Beginning, - - 3 22 0.81 Mean time. 
End, - - - 5 52 1.46 Mean time. 
His telescope was a Herschelian, by Holcomb, seven feet in length, 
six inches in aperture, with a deep red screen glass, power 150. 
‘«‘There was nothing unusual in the appearance, except, perhaps, about 
the time of greatest obscuration. At first were seen two or three 
brushes or pencils of light, streaming out from that border of the 
moon, which was not projected on the sun’s disc, about equidistant 
from each other, and from the higher cusp of the sun. These soon 
disappeared, and were succeeded by a faint diffuse light, bordering 
two-thirds of the lower part of the sun’s limb. The duration of this 
appearance was not noted.” 
Prof. Smith also noticed an indentation in the sun’s limb, which he 
attributes to the protrusion of a lunar mountain, before any other por 
tion of the moon was visible on the sun’s disc. The Committee are 
of opinion that this appearance should be referred to that class of 
phenomena which usually precede and follow a central eclipse and 
which are to be ascribed to some optical cause rather than to the pro- 
trusion of lunar mountains. 
No. 33, by Mr. I. N. Z. Blaney, at New Castle, Del., latitude 3” 
40’ N., longitude 5h. 2m. 8s. W.; observation of the duration of the 
ring with a spy-glass, with smoked glass screen. 8 
m. t 
From the appearance of the drops to the rupture of the ring, 4 so 
From the perfect formation of the ring to the perfect rupture, 4 45 
Prof. Alexander remarks that the luminous arch round the moon's 
dark limb, and the brush of light were only partially visible in his 4 
