November 5, 19 14] 



NATURE 



259 



My preliminary discussion of the first observa- 

 tions received indicated that the meteor p)enetrated 

 to a point so low in the air that it probably fell 

 in the region twent\- miles west of Manchester. 

 This conclusion was mentioned in a letter to the 

 Manchester papers, and the discovery of the 

 meteorite a few miles west of W'igan fully justified 

 the prediction. Several of the observers say that 

 the object lost its luminosity when still at an 

 apparently considerable height. This appears to 

 show that the motion had so far slackened that 

 combustion had visibly ceased, and the object fell 

 to the ground in an opaque, cooling condition. 

 Evidence of this is also furnished by its f>ene- 

 trating the soil to a depth of only i8 in. Several 

 well-observed meteoritic falls have been of merely 

 terrestrial velocity amounting to 400 or 500 ft. a 

 second, which is something different from the velo- 

 city of 26 miles a second possessed by these bodies 

 in planetary space. The descent of objects of this 

 class is often vertical or nearly so, and their 

 original velocity and direction are apparently quite 

 changed by the new conditions impressed on them 

 during their disruption when very near the earth's 

 surface. 



I have collected a large number of obser\-ations 

 of the flight of the object, from which it appears 

 that its direction was from about azimuth 335^, 

 counted west from south, or from S.S.E. to 

 N.X.W., and the probable radiant was at 348^ — 2° 

 in the western region of Pisces. The course of 

 the meteor was from near Stoke to the place of 

 its fall, a length of 49 miles traversed at a velocity 

 of about 8 miles a second. The height declined 

 from 29 miles to o. 



The object is said to have made a slanting hole 

 in the ground, and this would accord with an 

 angle of some 37°, which a radiant at 348°-:- 2° 

 would indicate. But the angle of the meteor's 

 descent must have probably become much steeper 

 after its entr\' into our atmosphere as an effect 

 of the resistance encountered and terrestrial 

 attraction. Several disruptions of its material 

 undoubtedly occurred before the final outburst ; 

 these reduced the size and varied the shape of the 

 object and mav well have influenced the line of 

 flight. 



The radiant in Pisces yields many fireballs in 

 September, and one was seen by many obser\-ers 

 on September 8 last. Daniel's comet of 1907 has 

 an orbit which approaches near the earth's orbit 

 on September 12 and may possibly be responsible 

 for some of the large meteors obser\-ed in Sep- 

 tember and at a later p)eriod. 



Previous meteoric falls have occurred as follows 

 in England, and I give the last recorded case in 

 Ireland : — 



1795 December 13, Wold Cottage, 56 lbs. 



1830 Februar\- 15, Launton. 



1835 August 4, Aldsworth. 



1876 April 20, Rowton, 7f lbs. 



1881 March 14, Middlesbrough, 3^ lbs. 



1902 September 13, Crumlin, Ireland, 9^ lbs. 



W. F. Dexxixg. 



NO. 2349, VOL. 94] 



NOTES. 

 A COCRSE of twelve Swiney lectures on geology will 

 begin, on Saturday, November 14, in the lecture 

 theatre of the Victoria and .Albert Museum, South 

 Kensington, by Dr. J. D. Falconer, who will take 

 as his subject, " Land Forms and Landscapes." There 

 will be no charge for admission to the course. 



M. BouTROUx, member of the Institute of France, 

 and professor in the University' of Paris, has accepted 

 an invitation of the British Academy to deliver the 

 i first of the recently endowed annual philosophical lec- 

 I tures. His subject will be "Certitude et Verite," and 

 the lecture will probably be delivered early in Decem- 

 ber next. 



AxxouxcEMEXT is made that the Serbian Govern- 

 ment is in immediate need of the services of qualified 

 bacteriologists and physicians experienced in the treat- 

 1 ment of epidemic diseases. Conditions of service and 

 i remuneration will be made by arrangement. Appli- 

 j cants should communicate with the Secretary of the 

 I Serbian Legation, 195 Queen's Gate, London, S.W. 



j A SHARP earthquake was felt over the whole of 

 northern Itah' at 10.20 a.m. (9.20 Greenwich mean 

 time) on October 27. The scanty reports which have 



j appeared in the newspapers show that it was sensible 

 from \'enice to Elba, and from Turin to Ancona — that 

 is, over an area of not less than 70,000 square miles. 



; The epicentre was apparendy near Lucca, or between 



' that cit\- and Bologna. 



I 



i Col. \^ . B. Bry.ax, who, as chief engineer of the 

 Metropolitan Water Board, had much to do with the 

 improvement of the London water supply, died sud- 

 denly on October 27. Col. Brj-an was to have delivered 

 the Thomas Hawksley lecture on '" Pumping and other 

 Machinery for Waterworks and Drainage," before the 

 Institution of Mechanical Engineers on Friday last, 

 but the lecture has now been cancelled. 



Dr. F. B. Power will retire from the directorship 

 I of the \\'ellcome Chemical Research Laboratories on 

 December i, in order to return to the United States 

 j of America. His period of service dates from the 

 j foundation of these laboratories by Mr. H. S. Well- 

 ! come in the spring of 1896. Dr. Power will be succeeded 

 j by Dr. F. L. Pyman. The character and policy of the 

 j Wellcome Chemical Research Laboratories will con- 

 I tinue as in the past. 



I A Relter message from Stockholm reports that the 

 Swedish scientific institutions which have to award 

 the Xobel prizes in December have decided, in view 

 of the Eurof)ean situation, to postpone the distribution 

 of the prizes for 1914 for literature, medicine, chemistTA* 

 and physics until next year. It is now prt^xDsed to 

 hold the formal presentation of the prizes every year in 

 the month of June instead of on Deceniber 10, the 

 anniversary of M. Nobel's death, when the awards 

 will merely be announced. 



A GENERAL oiscussion on the hardening of metals 

 has been arranged by the Faraday Societv-, to be held 

 on Monday, November 23, at the Chemical Societ)-, 

 Burlington House, London, W. The president. Sir 



