On the Meteors of 13th November. 367 
int ruse aang of the change of temperature out-of doors during the 
, L saw but indistinetly, and took my box to strike a light with- 
out so or thinking more of the phenomenon, until I went down 
to the parlor twenty minutes before six o’clock ; except that twice I 
saw a very sudden and bright glare of light, which, at the time, 
posite. On opening one of the parlor shutters, I was surprised at 
seeing innumerable meteors similar to those commonly called shoot- 
ing stars. ‘They were moving in a direction downward, and 1 should 
say, according to the best judgment I could form, were falling about 
half as thick as the flakes of snow in one of our common snow falls, 
with intervals of a few seconds, when there was not so many. 
stoed observing the phenomenon till fifteen to before six, at 
which time, the meteors being ene I attempted to count a portion 
of them., Inthe part to which my attention was confined, and which 
was perhaps a tenth part or rather ei of the horizon, I counted 
650 sia during the fifteen minutes before six o’clock. They fell so 
fast and thick, however, that I supposed I was not able to enumerate 
thus distinctly, more than two thirds the number of those which ac- 
tually fell sae that time in the space to which my attention was di- 
correct in my estimation, this would show the num- 
ber of meteors fling during the fifteen minutes, to have been more 
than 8660. At6 o’clock, I went to the top of the house. 
nomenon was now ya to cease. During the first fifteen min- 
utes after six, the number which fell in the paler half of the heav- 
ens foes ts zenith downwards was 98. ‘The last. fell ten minutes 
before 
In 283 course re. of this time a were two exceedingly bright me- 
teors. I did not see them, as they did not make their appearance in 
the part to which my attention was directed ; but the steeple of the 
neighboring church was reddened by the light of them; and I then 
supposed that the glare,of light in my chamber, which I had before 
attributed to a ae or fire in the house opposite, must have proceed= 
ed from meteo 
The sky was fo excepting on the verge of the horizon, where 
in the east, there were a few thin streaks and small specks of clouds, 
and in the south and southeast, the round heads of a range of dark 
heavy clouds were just visible above the horizon.—There was how- 
ever, a vapor in the atmosphere, visible round the horizon, which in 
the southeast assumed a very beautiful appearance during ten minutes, 
about half an hour before sunrise. ‘The thermometer yesterday at 
2 P. M. was 63 deg. ; this morning at 4 o’clock, itwas 39 deg. ‘There 
was but little wind, and this from the west. The direction in which 
the meteors moved was almost directly downward, and not oblique as 
usually seen, except in two instances, when the course was horizon- 
tal, nearly in astraight line, and from northeast to southwest, and these 
two meteors were high and small. Generally the meteors appeared 
