A FALLING STAR. 



2*3 



part of its flight at Bristol than at Leeds. We may, how- 

 ever, conclude, from a study of both observations, that 

 the body commenced its brilliant career at a point ninety- 

 eight miles high above a spot to the west of Appleby. 



We have thus the means of determining the actual path 

 which the meteor has traversed, and I would suggest to 

 the reader that he should construct, for his own informa- 

 tion, a little model, which will give him a clear picture of 

 the career of this curious visitor. Put a map of England 

 on a board and stick through it and into the board two 

 straight wires (knitting needles will do admirably), one 

 near Appleby and the other at Chester. A string is then 

 to be stretched from one of these needles to the other, but 

 the height at which its two ends are to be fastened 

 to the needles will of course depend upon the scale of the 

 map. The little model that is now before me is made 

 with the map from Bradshaw's Railway Guide. On the 

 scale of that map ninety-eight miles will be nearly 4| 

 inches. Accordingly I have fastened one end of the 

 string to the knitting needle through Appleby at the 

 height of 4 inches. Similarly sixty miles correspond 

 on this map to about 3 inches, and therefore the other 

 extremity of the string is to be secured 3 inches over 

 Chester, and an instructive model is complete. We can 

 at once learn from it the actual length of the meteor's 

 path. The distance between the two extremities of the 

 string is a little over 5 inches, and consequently we see 

 from the scale of the map that the length of flight is over 

 100 miles. Mr. Denning, from his accurate methods of 

 calculation, states it at 109 miles. 



A glance at the model will also explain what might 



