14 



NA TURE 



[March 4, 1909 



material moved to N.VV. at a rate of eighty miles per 

 hour, and appears to have retained approximately 

 the same height of thirty-two miles while it travelled 

 from over a point N. of Alderney Island to over 

 Dartmoor. The streak of the fireball of 1894 August 

 2(1 moved to S.E. at a rate of 120 miles per hour, 

 and was about fifty-one miles high. In fact, 

 meteoric streaks from the swifter class of objects, 

 such as Leonids, Perseids, and Orionids, are usually 

 between fiftv and sixty miles high. The streak or 

 smouldering residue of the February 22 fireball was 

 much lower than this, though the earlier portions of 

 it exceeded fifty miles in height. 



The burning or phosphorescence of the meteoric 

 debris for so long a period after dispersion is remark- 

 able. .Moonlight could hardly have produced the 

 effect, as our satellite was only 2^ days old (setting 

 at 8h. 19m.) and reflected little light. I have never 

 observed meteor streaks to have a lengthened e.xist- 

 ence in the presence of the full moon, so that another 

 cause inherent in the glowing material must be found 

 for its extraordinary sustenance in the recent case. 

 There must have been something special in its compo- 

 sition or in the condition of the air at the time. 



I have received seventv-one observations of • the- 

 meteor or of its trail, and other descriptions of very 

 useful character ought to come from Havre, Cher- 

 bourg, and other places on the north coast of France 

 and from the Channel Islands. 



The phenomenon may be aptly described as ihe 

 meteoric spectacle of a generation. As the nucleus 

 sailed along its nearly horizontal course, its light was 

 far from being even. It gave a series of outbursts, the 

 brighter of which much exceeded the lustre of Venus. 

 This comparison applies to a distance of 100 miles. 

 The mate of a vessel in the Channel near Start Point 

 savs the light was astonishing, and broke out with 

 startling vividness, so that anyone could have easily 

 seen to read. 



.\t the end of the meteor's flight it seemed to turn 

 abruptly in its direction, and fragments or embers 

 fell almost vertically eartjhwards about 3°. Then 

 the trail bent to the east and extended rapidly in a 

 horizontal path. The rate of this easterly drift, as 

 seen at Dunstable, Farnham, and other places, was 

 shown on drawings, and appears to have been more 

 than 300 miles per hour, the visible length having 

 increased about eighty miles between 7h. 30m. and 

 7h. 45m. Something more than mere wind currents 

 would appear to have been instrumental in inducing 

 this rapid translation. The easterly streak appears, 

 in fact, to have occupied at 7.45 the place where the 

 original train existed at 7.30, but which had risen 

 about 20° a quarter of an hour later. 



The nucleus of the meteor as it traversed its 

 course threw off a train of fiery sparks, such as is 

 often seen, but these quickly died away. Then slowly 

 the durable streak or trail came out, intensifying 

 rapidly and stretching across the skv like a silver 

 ribbon very irregularly arranged. By one observer in 

 the Channel it was watched for three hours, until it 

 became faintly blended with the !Milky Way in Cepheus 

 and Cygnus. 



The bend in the path of the fireball at the limits 

 of its westerly flight and the remarkable streak which 

 quickly formed far to the east are curious. It has been 

 suggested that there may have been a second meteor 

 responsible for the lower streak stretching to the 

 eastward. But as hundreds of persons were watching 

 the sky, it would have been and reported had it been 

 visible. .\t the termination of the meteor's career it 

 evidently suffered disruption by two violent explosions, 

 the places of which were definitely marked by brilliant 

 condensations at the angles of the bent streak. Is it 



NO. 2053, '^'OL. 80] 



possible that on the bursting and disintegration of the 

 mass one large fragment was hurled in a direction 

 nearly opposite to that of the original course? The 

 resistance of the air at the comparatively low altitude 

 of the meteor must have been considerable in checking 

 its velocity, but some more potent influence must have 

 suddenly staved the westerly rush of the object, diverted 

 it or its material earthwards, and then, as abruptly, 

 dispersed it far and rapidlv eastwards. 



W. F. Di;nning. 



JVOT£:.9. 



The following' fifteen candidates have been selected by 

 the council of the Royal Society to bo recommended for 

 election into the society : — Mr. E. C. C. Baly, Sir Thomas 

 Barlow, Bart., Rev. E. W. Barnes, Dr. F. A. Bather, 

 Sir Robert A. Hadfield, Mr. A. D. Hall, Dr. A. Harder,, 

 Mr. A. J. Jukes-Browne, Prof. J. G. Kerr, Prof. \V. J. 

 Lewis, Prof. J. A. McClelland, Prof. W. McFadden Orr, 

 Dr. A. B. Rendle, Prof. J. Lorrain Smith, and Prof. J. T. 

 Wilson. 



TuE Times announces that a well-equipped aerodynamic 

 laboratory is about to be established by the A^ro Club de 

 France with the assistance of the State. It is computed 

 that more than 50oo(. will be required to start this project, 

 the utility of which is unquestioned. Practice! tests in 

 planes, propellers, engines, &r., will be carried out at this 

 laboratory. 



The seventh annual session of the South African Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science will be held at 

 Bloemfontein during the week ending October 2, under 

 the presidency of Sir Hamilton J. Goold-.\dams, K.C.M.G. 

 The assistant general secretary is Mr. E. Hope Jones, 

 P.O. Box 1497, Cape Town. 



The sixth International Psychological Conference will 

 be held at Geneva from August 3 to S next. An exhibition 

 is being arranged, and a special section is to be devoted to 

 anima! psychology. M. E. ClaparMe, 11 avenue de 

 Champel. Geneva, is the general secretary, and M. 

 Cellerier, Montchoisv, Geneva, is the treasurer. 



The Paris correspondent of the Daily Chronicle states 

 that the wireless telegraph station on the Eiffel Tower 

 has been receiving messages from the station at Glace 

 Bay, Canada, a distance of 3250 miles. A new installation 

 is being fitted at the Eiffel Tower, by means of which it 

 is hoped to establish wireless telegraphic communication 

 with Saigon (Cochin China), a distance of 6800 miles. 



Ox Thursday next, March 11, Mr. A. D. Hall will 

 begin a course of two lectures at the Royal Institution 

 on " Recent Advances in Agricultural Science." The 

 Friday evening discourse on March 12 will be delivered 

 by Mr. S. G. Brown on " Modern Submarine Telegraphy," 

 and on March 19 by Mr. R. Threlfall, F.R.S., on " Experi- 

 ments at High Temperatures and Pressures." 



The Berlin correspondent of the Times announces the 

 death of Prof. H. Ebbinghaus, professor of philosophy at 

 the University of Halle, at fifty-nine years of age. Prof. 

 Ebbinghaus contributed e.xtensively to the Zeitschrijt jilr 

 Psychologie, of which he was the founder, while of his 

 several books the best known are his work " On the 

 Memory " (1885), and the first volume, which appeared 

 three years ago, of the unfinished " Principles of Psycho- 

 logy." 



An exhibition of optical and ophthalmological appliances 

 will be held in the rooms of the Medical Society of London 

 on March 12 and 13, from noon to 10 p.m. each day. 



