352 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



and disappearing like a sky-rocket ; and two to three minutes 

 afterwards a sound was heard resembling distant thunder, fol- 

 lowed by a deep rumbling lasting about 60 seconds. He further 

 says that the meteor was of too dazzling a brightness to rest the 

 eyes upon. 



The Kansas City Chief says it passed from N.W. to S.E., 

 leaving a lurid streak in its wake, and making all out-doors 

 brighter than moonlight ; two minutes later an explosion was 

 heard resembling the discharge of heavy cannon. 



At Pleasant Hill, Cass County, Mr. R. S. Wilson and others 

 observed it about 9 p. m., the sky first being brightly illumin- 

 ated, and, immediately after, a bright nucleus similar in appear- 

 ance to a comet, or ball of fire, with a short tail, appeared in the 

 northwest, shooting up like a rocket from the horizon towards 

 the zenith, and descending eastwardly. Less than a minute was 

 occupied in the total passage. 



Mr. Jno. W. Stewart, of Clinton, Henry County, says it passed 

 in a northeast direction at an angle of 30° with the horizon, and 

 apparently was twice the diameter of the sun, leaving a long lu- 

 minous tail, not spread out, and of a bluish or violet color, the 

 ball appearing brighter. 



Although the meteor was seen at various points from Nevada, 

 Mo., to Council Blufl^s, Iowa, or for three hundred miles north and 

 south, and over as wide a space east and west, yet I do not find 

 that any explosion was heard south of Kansas City, nor any further 

 eastward. From the apparent course, and time of hearing the sound 

 after the flash, it would appear as if it had burst at a distance 

 of 40 to 70 miles from the observers in Northwest Missouri, or a 

 little east from DeKalb County, probably in Daviess or Caldwell 

 County ; but observers in that neighborhood do not mention an 

 explosion, nor do they say that its appearance excited much 

 remark. 



