FIRE-BALLS. 21" 



parts is of course occluded from view. Even were the sky 

 so perfectly clear as to permit an UL intermitting watch 

 being maintained from one year's end to the other, we 

 could not expect from any single station to see more than 

 a mere fraction of the total number of fire-balls that had 

 actually descended. It must also be remembered that the 

 fire-balls which do travel above the horizon will have 

 many chances of escaping notice, for an observer cannot 

 be always on the look out. He will be indeed a diligent 

 astronomer and situated in a favoured clime who should 

 spend a thousand hours in the year on the watch for shoot- 

 ing stars. Even this will, however, only amount to one 

 hour out of every eight. We may reasonably suppose that 

 meteors and fire-balls will be as likely to arrive in any 

 one of the seven hours during which an observer is not on 

 the watch as in the single hour during which he is present. 



This will explain why it is that though fire-balls are 

 really so very abundant, yet that the opportunities enjoyed 

 by any individual for seeing them are comparatively in- 

 frequent. As a random example of the yearly crop of 

 fire-balls, I take from the middle of 1877 to the middle of 

 1878. A list of the fire-balls noticed during this period 

 will be found in that storehouse of valuable information, 

 the Reports of the British Association. In the year 

 referred to I see that eighty-six great fire-balls have been 

 recorded. They have appeared in various localities, both 

 in the old hemisphere and in the new. The most arduous 

 observer may think himself fortunate if he had even seen 

 one of them. 



As to the brilliant light from some of these great fire- 

 balls, there are numerous statements. We are not infre- 



