110 



LUMINOUS METEORS. 



Ilesearches 

 regarding 

 tlie meteors 



CHAP. X. horizon, and rose to the height of 14°. This was the 

 last time it was seen that year. 



The researches of M. Chladni having directed the 

 attention of the scientific world to fire-balls and falling- 

 stars at the period of Humboldt's departure from home, 

 he did not fail to inquire, during his journey from 

 Caraccas to the Rio Negro, whether the meteors of the 

 12th November had been seen. lie found that they 

 had been observed by various individuals in places very 

 remote from each other ; and on returning to Europe 

 was astonished to find that they had been seen there 

 also. The following is a brief account of the facts 

 relating to these phenomena: — 1st, The luminous me- 

 Facts noted, teors were seen in the E. and E.N.E. at 40° of elevation, 

 from two to six a.m., at Cumana, in lat 10^ 27' 52", 

 long. 64° 10' ; at Porto Cabcllo, in lat. 10° 6' 62", long. 

 64° 45' ; and on the frontiers af Brazil, near the equator, 

 in long. 67° 40' west. 2dly, The Count de jNIarbois 

 observed them in French Guiana, lat. 4° 50', long. 62° 

 15'. 3dly, Mr Ellicot, astronomer to the United States, 

 being in the Gulf of Florida on the 12th November, 

 saw an immense number of meteors, some of wliich 

 appeared to fall perpendicularly ; and the same pheno- 

 menon was perceived on the American continent as far 

 as lat. 30° 42'. 4thly, In Labrador, in lat. 50° 55', and 

 lat. 58° 4'; in Greenland, in latitudes 61° 5' and 64° 

 14', the natives were frightened by the vast quantity of 

 fire-balls that fell during twilight, some of them of 

 great size. 6thly, In Germany, Mi- Zeissing, vicar of 

 Itterstadt near Weimar, in lat. *50° 59', long. 11° 21' E., 

 observed, between six and seven in the morning of the 

 12th November, some falling-stars having a very white 

 light. Soon after reddish streaks ajjpeared in the S. 

 and S.W. ; and at dawn the south-western part of the 

 sky was from time to time illuminated by white light- 

 ning running in serpentine lines along the horizon. 



Calculating from these facts, it is manifest that the 

 height of the meteors was at least 1419 miles ; and, as 

 near AVcimar they were seen in the S. and S.W., while 



CiilcalatioQS. 



