HISTORY OF 



and came time enough to see it in the mid- 

 dle of its career, which continued from west to 

 south, till I lost sight of it, being intercepted by 

 a mountain that lay between me and it. It was 

 round; and its apparent diameter about a foot. 

 I observed it to rise from the sides of Pichinca, 

 although, to judge from its course, it was behind 

 that mountain where this congeries of inflamma- 

 ble matter was kindled. In the first half of its 

 visible course, it emitted a prodigious effulgence, 

 then it began gradually to grow dim; so that, 

 upon its disappearing behind the intervening 

 mountain, its light was very faint." 



Meteors of this kind are very frequently seen 

 between the tropics ; but they sometimes, also, 

 visit the more temperate regions of Europe. We 

 have the description of a very extraordinary one 

 given us by Montanari, that serves to show to 

 what great heights, in our atmosphere, these va- 

 pours are found to ascend. In the year 1 676, a 

 great globe of fire was seen at Bononia, in Italy, 

 about three quarters of an hour after sun-set. It 

 passed westward, with a most rapid course, and 

 at the rate of not less than a hundred and sixty 

 miles in a minute, which is much swifter than the 

 force of a cannon-ball, and, at last, stood over 

 the Adriatic Sea. In its course it crossed over 

 all Italy ; and, by computation, it could not 

 have been less than thirty-eight miles above the 

 surface of the earth. In the whole line of its 

 course, wherever it approached, the inhabitants 

 below could distinctly hear it, with a hissing 

 noise, resembling that of a fire-work. Having 



