February i, 1894] 



NA TURE 



325 



and as the phenomenon passed onwards the light grew in bright- 

 ness until it equalled the lustre of the electric arc, and has been 

 compared to the glow of a great electric search-light. The 

 emitted light lasted at least 30 seconds. Apparently the path 

 was from the north-west. Two minutes after disappearance 

 three detonations were heard, the last being of exceptional 

 violence, shaking buildings, and causing the earth to vibrate. 

 Here at Henwick, the- head of the meteor, though visible at 

 other places, was invisible, but a magnificent long luminous trail 

 was apparent. At Hallow, hence three miles north, and at 

 Clifton-on-Teme, hence twelve miles north-west, the light 

 was seen, and the effects of the terrific explosion were ex- 

 perienced. At the former place the crockery-ware was jarred off 

 the shelves of cottages. A loud rumbling noise was also heard, 

 some persons describing it as like the prolonged roar of distant 

 thunder. At the Wych Malvern, slates were displaced from 

 house-roofs. A gentleman who observed the meteor at Mold, 

 North Wales, says that, if anything, it 

 appeared to him to be larger than the moon. 

 The colour ' was blue in the centre, and had 

 yellow fire round the edges." No explosion 

 was heard there. The meteor, it is supposed, 

 broke up near Clifton-on-Teme, but no trace 

 of its debris has hitherto been found. At 

 Droitwich, hence seven miles nortb-east, it 

 was thought that the Evesham gas works, 

 twelve miles away, had blown up. At 

 Pershore the head of the meteor was seen, 

 and its buisting, which it is said was ac- 

 companied by the flashing of a dull red light, 

 was witnessed. At Malvern, eight miles 

 westward, the terrific effects of the occur- 

 rence were apparent. Here there is no 

 previous record of a meteor on so grand, 

 prolonged, and terrific a scale." 



Several letters describing the meteor have 

 appeared in the Times. Air. W. H. Lloyd 

 observed the phenomenon from the top of 

 the Cotswolds, about half a mile north 

 of Minchin Hampton. He saw a ball of 

 fire pass rapidly from north to south, and 

 disappear in one or two seconds. About 

 a minute or a minute and a half afterwards 

 a series of explosions was heard. A de- 

 tonating sound was also heard at Cheltenham, but at some other 

 places no peculiar sound was noticed. A loud rumbling noise 

 like an explosion was heard near Ross, Herefordshire, and 

 ascribed to an earthquake shock. Mr. J. G. Wood remarks in 

 yesterday's Tirnes that there is possibly a connection between 

 earthquakes and meteoric phenomena. He points out that the 

 North Devon disturbance of January 23 (see p. 320) was fol- 

 lowed by the meteor of January 25, and that both an earthquake 

 and a bright light was observed at i\os«, though the observer 

 did not actually see a meteor. The light of the meteor is 

 variously stated, but the majority of observers describe it as in- 

 tensely bright and bluish, similar to the light of the electric arc. 

 Mr. J. D. La Touche, writing from Stokesay Vicarage, Shrop- 

 shire, says that the phenomenon continued for certainly more 

 than half a minute ; but at Brixworth, Northampton, the dura- 

 tion is said to have been about seven or eight seconds. All 

 agree, however, that the meteor was of a brilliancy so great 

 that the whole sky was illuminated, and Venus and Jupiter 

 paled into insignificance before it. 



time since, about two miles south of the one sent you some time 

 ago. I can have it sent to you by train from Hyrock." Various 

 delays occurred, and I did not get it until September 5. The 

 meteor had been very carefully packed, and had not suffered 

 much loss on the journey, although, like the previous one from 

 this locality, it is much cracked, and many parts of the surface 

 are ready to crumble away. All the parts together weigh 

 74^ lbs., and its specific gravity as a whole is 3757. The No. i 

 Gilgoin meteor weighs 67.2 lbs. and its specific gravity is 3'857. 

 They are so much alike that it strengthens the probability 

 arising from external similarity and nearness of the localities in 

 which they were found that they are parts of one much larger. 

 It is but right, however, to add that if so, they must have 

 travelled through the atmosphere together a sufficient distance 

 to cause the usual melted surface, which, although in parts lost 

 by subsequent slow effect of oxidation, is yet too extensive to 

 admit the alternative that they divided as they fell. 



ON A METEORITE FROM 

 STATION} 



GILGOIN 



TT will be remembered that at the June (1889) meeting of the 

 Society I exhibited a meteor weighing 67^ lbs. sent to me 

 by Mr. J. F. Yeomons, of Gilgoin Station, situated forty miles 

 towards east south-east from Brewarrina. (This meteorite is 

 the left-hand one shown in the accompanying figure.) It had 

 been long exposed to the weather, and the chemical action of 

 air and rain had broken up the surface of it to such an extent 

 that pieces fell off each time it was handled. 



On February 8, 1893, Mr. Yeomons again wrote to me and 

 said : — " We have in our possession an aerolite, found, a short 



1 Read -at the Royal Society, Sydney, November i, 1S93. 



NO. 1266, VOL. 49] 



This recently-found No. 2 Gilgoin meteor is, roughly, double 

 convex, and measures 7 inches through the thickest part, and 

 14 X 15 inches diameter. The surface has been melted, but 

 is not so smooth and glossy as others I have seen ; when a part 

 of it which has not been oxidised is broken, it is dark grey in 

 colour, and shows a great abundance of fine bright, white metallic 

 particles. The rule is laid in a space left by some pieces 

 missing. The meteorite has not yet been analysed, but I 

 hope Prof. Liversidge will undertake that work. 



H. C. Russell. 



MODERN MATHEMATICAL THOUGHT} 



/^NE who, like myself, is not a mathematician in the modern 

 ^^ sense naturally feels that some apology is due for accept- 

 ing the invitation with which this society has honoured me, to 

 address it on a mathematical subject. Possibly an adequate 

 apology may be found in the reflection that one who has not 

 gone deeply into any of the contemporaneous problems of 

 mathematics, but who, as a student, has had a sufficient fond- 

 ness for the subject to keep himself informed of the general 

 course of thought in it, may be able to take such a general 

 review as is appropriate to the present occasion. I shall there- 

 fore ask your consideration of some comparisons between tlie 

 mode of thinking on mathematical subjects at the present time, 

 and those methods which have come down to us from the past, 

 with a view of pointing out in what direction progress lies, and 

 what is the significance of mathematical investigation at the 

 present day. 



Among the miscellaneous reading of my youth was a history 

 of modern Europe, which concluded with a general survey and 

 attempted forecast of progress in arts, science, and literature. 

 So far as I can judge, this work was written about the time of 



1 Address delivered before the New York Mathematical Society at the 

 annual meeting, December 28, 1S93, by Prof. Simon Newcomb. 



