30Gf Mr. J. Glaisher on the Meteor which appeared 



which I could estimate its exact position were not sufficiently 

 noticed at the time to enable me to do so now with any degree 

 of accuracy ; and when ' about north ' was mentioned as the 

 position of the meteor at the time of its disappearance, it was 

 merely conjecture as to true bearing, as I had no instrument 

 by which its correct position could be ascertained. One of my 

 sons, who was about a mile and a half on the south side of Bristol 

 at the time the meteor appeared, assures me that its bearing was 

 certainly to the east of north ; and as he is an engineer, and has 

 surveyed in the locality from which he observed, and is therefore 

 familiar with the bearing of different objects around, I have no 

 doubt that it was to the eastward of north. 



" The light from the meteor was so great that the smallest 

 objects could be discerned as clearly as in full daylight." 



XIX. From Christchurch. A. P. Falconer, Esq., furnished 

 me with the following particulars : — 



" On the 12th of August, at 9*^ 20™ p.m., I was on my way 

 home, and meeting a person whom I stopped to speak to, we were 

 suddenly surprised by an intense mild light which illuminated 

 everything around as clear as day ; on turning round to see from 

 whence it proceeded, I saw a body rapidly passing from east to 

 west, leaving a long train of light and sparks in its path, and 

 disappearing. The duration of tlie light was hardly 3 or 4 seconds, 

 but the light emitted in its ti'ain and passage might have been 

 10 seconds. The angle of its appearance was 45° or less ; it 

 passed below the polar star from the eastward. 



" The duration of this meteor was so brief, that a person had 

 hardly time to tui'n and view it for so long a period as many 

 assert, though an intervening cloud or haze might have hid this 

 interesting phsenomenon from me." 



XX. From Christchurch. Elias Lane, Esq., favoured me with 

 the folloT^ang information : — 



" I happened to be in an open field on the evening of the 

 12th of August, and was attracted by the flash described by 

 other observers to the part of the heavens from whence it pro- 

 ceeded ; and facing, as I was, the north, I had a full view of it, 

 similar in every respect to the obsei-vation of G. F. Lyster, Esq., 

 only I think it nmst have been to my observation much smaller ; 

 it was, as near as I could notice, about half a degree west of, 

 and one degree below, the polar star ; it lasted about a minute, 

 and then died away slowly and gradually. 



" I do not know that it was seen by any other person in this 

 town or neighbourhood ; many persons noticed the flash, but 

 thinking it to be that of lightning took no further notice 

 of it." 



