Miscellanies. 391 
SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE AND NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
3. Most Brilliant Meteor.—On the evening of the 14th (August 
or July, 1839, old style, i. e. 26th, new style,) about 9 P. M., Capt. 
Pellegrines, being on the coast near Koutzolara, saw an extraordina- 
ry meteor toward the shores of Albania, Greece. A luminous body, 
which at first appeared like a common falling-star, crossed the sky 
from North to South; the blazing nucleus soon bursting forth with 
so much splendor that it eclipsed the stars, and turned night into day. 
It seemed as though the vessel would be burned up. The duration of 
the meteor was, as usual, very short; but when it disappeared it left 
behind it a long and broad fiery track, which, for the space of twenty 
minutes, accurately noted, sparkled like Bengal fire; until after an 
undulating motion, it curled up into the form of the letter Z, and by 
degrees ceased to be visible. 
(Translated from the og Tov Aaov, Athens, Sept. 18, [O. S.] 
1839, p. 64, where it is quoted from the Journal of Corcyra, Corfu.) 
4. Explosion of a Meteor near Antigua, West Indies.—The fol- 
lowing account is taken from the Dansk Westindisk Regierings 
Avis, of Jan. 2, 1840. : 
* On Saturday morning, November 9, 1839, a little after daybreak, 
a concussion was felt in this town, preceded by a sound like the dis- 
charge of a heavy piece of ordnance, not far off, with blank cartridge, 
with reverberations ; we thought it might be an earthquake. The im- 
pression was various in the town, it being an hour at which so few 
persons are awake: some thought it thunder; others, guns; and 
_ others, again, the explosion of one of the magazines at the forts at 
the mouth of the harbor. On inquiry in the course of the day, we 
heard that it was said by some servants and laborers, who were out 
soon, that it was a star with a train of fire, which came from the 
eastward, passed over the town toward the sea, and burst in a blaze. 
Anxious for all the information we could procure, we sent down to 
the fort, about three miles below the town, and at the south entrance 
to the harbor, to desire the chief signal man to report any observa- 
tions he may have made on that morning. The following reply, 
coming from a person of great steadiness of character and intelli- 
gence, may be relied upon. It has been since fully corroborated by 
others, and especially fishermen, who were at sea at a very early hour 
bt 39 
peer Sorel: & Quren’s Battery, Goat Hirt, Nov. 11, 1839, 
“I received your note yesterday about that ball a star. It was 
the case ; about two or three minutes before James’s fort fired the 
Vol. XXXKIX, No. 2.—July-September, 1840. sad 
