on TJmrsday, the Uth of August 1833. 297 



the toeteoric appearance described in the Illustrated London News. 

 As I know but Uttle about the stars, I can only add that the 

 extraordinary and beautiful light bui'st forth within a short 

 distance of the Great Bear." 



X. From Charlton Somerton, Somersetshire. J. R. Page, 

 Esq., favoured me with the following : — 



" I beg to inform you that on the evening of the 12th August, 

 about 9*^ 20™, at Sidmouth in Devonshire, my attention was 

 suddenly attracted to a very bright light of a splendid blue 

 colour, something in the shape of a fish with a long tail, head 

 part to the north, and the tail inclining downwards. It gradu- 

 ally faded away, leaving for some time after its disappearance a 

 whitish-looking cloud ; it was visible some thirty or forty minutes. 

 The meteor disappeared in much the same place that it appeared." 



XI. Sidmouth. From the Philosophical Magazine for Sep- 

 tember 1853, by N. S. Heineken, Esq. 



" A rough trial with a common quadrant the following day gave, 

 from the position indicated by a sailor who saw the meteor 

 (probably at its greatest altitude), about 30'', and about 10° E, 

 of magnetic north. It is described by all as having cast a strong 

 shadow — that the hour could have been seen on a watch — that 

 no noise was heard — that while globular it approached the full 

 moon in apparent size." 



The western dechnation of the magnetic needle at Sidmouth 

 is about 23°; this would place the meteor 13° west of the meri- 

 dian of Sidmouth, which is discordant with the other observers 

 at Sidmouth : probably it should be 10° west of the magnetic 

 meridian, which would give 33° E. of N. as the azimuth, and 

 which is near the truth. 



XII. Sidmouth. From the Philosophical Magazine for the 

 month of September 1852, by Anne 11. Bennett. 



" I have written down, according to your request, all the par- 

 ticulars I can remember respecting the beautiful meteor which I 

 saw last c^■ening. It was about .13 minutes past 9 p-.m. when, 

 as I was walking home, a light — so bright that my figure cast a 

 strong shadow across it — streamed upon the road. I instantly 

 turned round and saw in the sky, about 15'^ W. of Cassiopeia, a 

 meteor the size of the full moon, and of a warm yellow colour. 

 The Ijall immediately shot out into a bar, apjjurently 7° 30' in 

 l(;ngth and 1° wide. The edges of the bar were sharply defined, 

 and the breadth was the same throughout ; but both the ends 

 were jugged, and in the centre there was a rent which gradually 

 became wider, until within 30 seconds, as near as I could guess 

 the time, there was a distance of 30' between the two jn-opor- 

 tions. In about 30 seconds more the bar lost its sharjjly d(!fincd 

 appearance and faded into a thin luminous cloud with a pale 



