364 On the Meteors of 13th November. 
*‘ Meteoric Phenomenon” was the principal topic of conversation in 
every circle, and the descriptions that were published by different 
observers, were rapidly circulated by the newspapers, through all 
parts of the United States. 
The writer of this article, through the kindness of a friend, was 
awaked in season to witness the spectacle in much of its grandeur, 
His impressions were immediately committed to writing, and the state- 
ment was published the same day in the New Haven Daily Herald. 
It concluded with a request for information from other observers. Al- 
though he did not presume to expect communications, except from 
observers within the limited sphere through which the paper circu- 
lates, yet the article being copied into other papers of a wider cur- 
rency, the request has met with a response from scientific gentlemen 
residing in different parts of the Union, to whom he tenders his grate- 
ful acknowledgments. By their kindness, added to a diligent peru- 
sal of the public papers, and of various statements from the corres- 
pondents of this Journal, which the editor has been so good as to 
fe a in his hands, (of which notices will appear in the sequel,) he 
believes himself to have the means of giving a synopsis of the princi- 
pal facts as observed throughout the United States, in some of the 
neighboring islands, and on parts of the ocean, although it is still too 
early to attenipt a description of this phenomenon in its full extent ; 
for we have not yet had time to hear of its extreme limits in any one 
direction, or of the appearances which portions of the heavens are pre- 
sumed to have presented to places situated without those limits. But 
if we should venture no farther, we may at least render an accepta- 
ble service to science, by collecting and classifying the facts already 
ascertained, and recording them in a work more permanent than the 
ephemeral publications, in which they have hitherto appeared. 
It is proposed then, first, after describing the phenomenon as it ap- 
peared at this ve (Yale College,) to insert at large several descrip- 
siding in places remote from each other ; 
secondly, to hee a synopsis of all the facts hitherto ascertained ; 
thirdly, to offer a concise sketch of similar phenomena heretofore ob- 
served and recorded ; and finally, to inquire what explanation, if any, 
may be given to the phenomenon in question, 
