OCTOltKR. 1011. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



399 



lecent Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, down to tliose of 

 I'eary and Shackleton. 



The book is excellently and profusely illustrated. Each 

 chapter is accompanied by a fnll list of references, and an 

 adequate index is prox'ided. We welcome it as an excellent 

 reference work to modern views of glaciation, the literature of 

 which is widely scattered, enormous in its extent, and to many 

 workers rather inaccessible. (i. W • T. 



Tlic History o/ Geology. — By H. B. Woodward. F.R.S.. 



I'.G.S. History of Science Series. 154 pages. 14 plates. 



6i-in. X5-in. 



(Watts & Co. Price 1 - net. I 



As a science, geology dates from the close of the eighteenth' 

 centnr\ . although many vague and curious notions as to the 

 constitution and structure of the earth were current before 

 this time. These ideas were originated by speculation about 

 earthquakes, volcanoes, springs, land,slips, and other natural 

 phenomena. Mr. Woodward goes as far back as the philo- 



sophers of Greece and Rome, in his search after iiuotations 

 which seem to prove that the germs of some modern geological 

 ideas originated in very early times. .After a chapter on these 

 early notions, the author passes on to review the work of the 

 founders of modern geology, Hutton, Werner, and their con- 

 temporaries, whose work made possible that '" golden era" of 

 geology, the giants of which were Sedgwick, Murchison, Lyell. 

 Von Buch, and Elie de Beaumont. It is gratifying to note 

 the predominance of British names in the history of geology. 

 So much has the pioneer work of British geologists impressed 

 itself on the science that the common local stratigraphical 

 terms, such as Lias. Devonian, Silurian, and so on, coined in 

 this country, are now used all over the world. In regard to 

 petrology we miss a reference to the recent work of Whitman 

 Cross on the history of that branch of the science. Mr. 

 \\'oodward is to be congratulated on this thoroughly readable 

 and useful little book, which supplies an undoubted want in 

 the literature of geology. It is illustrated by fourteen excellent 

 portraits of f.amous geologists, including Miss Etheldred 

 Benett (1776 — 18451, the first lady to distinguish herself by a 

 svstematic studv of the science. G. W. T. 



METEORIC PHE.\()Mi:XA Ol- SEPTEMDER 2nd, 191 1. 

 Bv \V. E. Dl-:X\IXr,. E.R.A.S. 



Therk were some beautiful fireballs observed on September 

 2nd. and the date was already known as one on which these 

 objects are apt to appear with unusual abundance. 



In the sunshine of the afternoon, at 3.45 p.m., a splendid 

 meteor was seen from various stations in Cornwall and Devon. 

 Situated beyond the Bristol Channel, it could not be well 

 observed from N.E. counties. Observed from Newquay, it 

 was described as being like an elongated or pear-shaped 

 electric bulb with a tail, travelling at great speed and emitting 

 a brilliant white light. 



At Laimceston the meteor fell in the north, being directed 

 from the west, at an angle of about 45'. 



At Redruth "a brilliant star with a tail " was observed 

 running to the X.X.E. 



.At Polzeath it surprised some golf players, who noticed its 

 brilliant flash of silver light in the sky. Its direction was 

 from S. to \. .At Barnstaple it was alluded to as a meteor of 

 great lustre, travelling from S.W. to W. at fifty degrees above 

 horizon. 



At Fowey it was seen as " a brilliant kite with sparks issuing 

 from the tail and travelling from X.X.W. to N.N.E." 

 Unfortunately these and other accounts are not sufficiently 

 exact — but it is hoped that descriptions will yet be forth- 

 coming and allow the real path of this daylight fireball to be 

 well determined. 



On the same date, but when darkness had nearly closed in. 

 and the stars were shining as brightly as they well could with 

 the presence of a gibbous moon in the southern sky, another 

 grand meteor appeared, and the number of its observers 

 seem to have been legion. This time the locality favoured was 

 transferred to the North Sea and Scotland, for the meteor 

 took a long and rather slow flight over Berwick, Edinburgh, 

 and Stirling, finally disappearing over Argyle when N. of 

 Inverary. 



The spectators of it were distributed over a wide area, for 

 descriptions of its aspect and position have come from Leeds, 

 Manchester and North Wales in the South, from Dungannon, 

 Tyrone in the West, and from Rothes and Rothiemay in the 

 North. 



All classes of people saw- it, from the untutored agricultural 

 labourer to the cultured savant, and some of the reports are 

 very good, though others are not without rather serious 

 discordances. 



The meteor was one of the finest kind, for at Edinburgh. 

 Glasgow and other places not very far from its track its light 

 burst with astonishing brilliancy over the sky and landscape, 



and some people mistook it at first for a very prolonged light- 

 ning flash, while others thought it due to the explosion of a 

 monster rocket. The light of a nine-day old moon seemed 

 pale and insignificant beside the splendour of the meteor when 

 it momentarily shone at its best. 



It is not feasible to refer to the individual observations. 

 The statements as to colour differ but the nucleus appears to 

 have been of an electric blue, while the tail following it was 

 reddish-yellow. 



I have compared about fifty observations of the object, and 

 find that its height was from about ei.ghty-eight to tw-enty-six 

 miles, directed from E.S.E. to W.N.W., along a path of one 

 hundred and ninety-six miles, traversed at a velocity of 

 nineteen miles per second. It was a member of awell-known 

 meteoric shower in Pisces at 348° + 3'. which supplies many 

 beautiful fireballs during the last half of .August and first half 

 of September. 



Some of the observers did not witness the whole of the 

 luminous course. Many of them only looked up to the 

 heavens when the meteor's startling lustre attracted their 

 attention, and after it had already completed a large section of 

 its trajectory. 



The meteor was probably the most brilliant object which 

 passed over Scotland since the great Leonid fireball of 

 .\o\ember 16th, 1910, described in " Kxowledgk." for 

 March, 1911, page 116. 



The radiant South of the Square of Pegasus, in Pisces, has 

 previously furnished many fine meteors, and the following is a 

 summary of a few of the more interesting : — 



Dale. -^h^g- Radiant. 



1900, Aug. 19 3X2 ... 346°+ 0° 



1901, „ 21 1st ... 341°+ 5° 



1899, „ 24 +: ... 345°+14° 



1899, Sep. S > 2 ... 347°+ 3" 



1875, ., 14 > ; ... 348°+ 0° 



1901, .. 14 2 ... 345°+ 1° 



1898. .. 17 1st ... 343°+ 0° 



1906, „ 27 2 ... 345°+ 2° 



This year I saw several small meteors early in September 

 from this shower, but the fireball was too far north to be 

 visible at Bristol. 



We have had here in Bristol a magnificent summer for 

 observing purposes. Between July 1st and September 22nd 

 (eighty-four nights) there were only two nights on which the 

 stars were inxisible. 



