THE EARTH. 259 



dim ; so that, upon its disappearing behind the interveninj? 

 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 re- 

 gions of Europe. We have the description of a very extraordi- 

 nary one, given us by Montanari, that serves to show to what 

 gi-eat heights, in our atmosphere, these vapours are found to 

 ascend. In the year 1676, a great globe of fire was seen at Bo- 

 nonia, 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 s«dfter 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 dis- 

 tinctly hear it, with a hissing noise, resembling that of a fire- 

 work. Having passed away to sea, towards Corsica, it was 

 heard, at last, to go off with a most violent explosion, much 

 louder than that of a cannon : and, immediately after, another 

 noise was heard, like the rattling of a great cart upon a stony 

 pavement ; which was, probably, nothing more than the echo of 

 ilie former sound. Its magnitude, when at Bononia, appeared 

 twice as long as the moon, one way, and as broad the other ; so 

 that, considering its height, it could not have been less than a 

 mUe long, and half a mile broad. From the height at which 

 this was seen, and there being no volcano on that quarter of the 

 world from whence it came, it is more than probable that this 

 terrible gh)be was kindled on some part of the contrary side of 

 the globe, in those regions of vapours which we have been just 

 describing; and thus, rising above the air, and passing in a 

 course opposite to that cf the earth's motion, in this manner it 

 acquired its amazing rapidity.* 



* Nothing can be a more complete proof of the imperfect state of the 

 fccience of meteorology, than the discovery of facts, for which not even a con- 

 jectural cause in the smallest degree probable can be assigned. Lnminoua 

 bodies called meteors, fire-balls, Sc. have in all ages been observed in the at- 

 mosphere, and many of them have been described by eye-witnesses. One of 

 the most remarkable of these was the meteor which appeared in 1783. It was 

 very luminous, and its diameter could not be less than 1000 varda, tt tra» 



