METEOEIC STONES AND SHOOTING STAES. 



trigonometrical measurements, saw, in 1788, at Papayana, a town 

 situate in 2 26' N. lat., and at an elevation of 5,880 feet, at noon- 

 day, with the sun shining brightly in an unclouded sky, his 

 whole room illuminated by a ball of fire. He was standing at the 

 moment with his back to the window, and, on turning round, 

 a great part of the track left by the meteor was still visible and 

 brilliantly marked. 



After midnight, on 12th November, 1799, Humboldt and 

 Bonpland saw a prodigious shower of shooting stars at Cumana. 

 This phenomenon was not local, being seen over a great part of 

 the earth. 



16. On the night 12th November, 1822, shooting stars, mingled 

 with balls of fire, were seen in vast numbers at Potsdam by 

 Kloden, 



On the night of 13th November, 1831, Captain Berard, of the 

 French navy, commanding the brig Le Loiret, off the Spanish 

 coast near Carthagena del Levante, saw in a perfectly cloudless 

 sky, at four in the morning, a considerable number of shooting 

 stars and luminous meteors of great dimensions. During more 

 than three hours they continued to shoot at the average rate of 

 three per minute, and consequently 540 must have appeared in 

 that interval. One of these meteors which passed through the 

 zenith was especially remarkable, exhibiting a luminous train 

 half the breadth of the moon, in which were plainly distinguished 

 all the colours of the rainbow. This train continued visible 

 during more than six minutes. 



17. One of the most interesting descriptions of these phenomena 

 is that published by D. Olmsted of Newhaven, Massachusetts, 

 U.S., in which a detailed account is given of the magnificent 

 showers of stars which took place in the United States on the 

 night of 12-13th November, 1833. 



The meteors began to attract notice by their frequency as 

 early as 9 o'clock on the evening of 12 Nov., the exhibi- 

 tion became strikingly brilliant about 11 o'clock, but most 

 splendid of all about 4 o'clock, and continued with but little 

 intermission until darkness merged in the light of day. A few 

 large fire-balls were seen even after the sun had risen. The 

 entire extent of the exhibition is not ascertained, but it covered 

 no inconsiderable portion of the earth's surface. It has been 

 traced from the longitude of 61 in the Atlantic ocean, to 

 longitude of 100 in central Mexico, and from the North 

 American lakes to the southern side of the island of Jamaica. 

 Everywhere within these limits, the first appearance was that of 

 fire-works of the most imposing grandeur, covering the entire 

 vault of heaven with myriads of fire-balls resembling sky-rockets. 

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