342 J. Lawrence Smith on Meteorites. 
seen to fall, but the great ignited mass suddenly disappeared, at 
30° above the horizon, four miles from the earth, when it could 
not have had less than six or seven hundred miles of atmosphere 
to traverse, before it reached the limit of that medium; it has 
already acquired a state of ignition in its passage through the air 
prior to the explosion, and should have retained its luminous ap- 
pearence consequent thereupon, at least while remaining in the 
atmosphere: but as this was not the case, and a sudden disappear- 
ance of the entire body took place in the very lowest portions of 
the atmosphere, and descending luminous fragments were seen, 
the natural conclusion appears to be, that the whole meteorite 
was cogtained in the fragments that fell. 
s e Weston meteorite, it is stated that its direction was 
nearly llel to the surface of the earth at an elevation of about 
18 miles; was one mile farther when it exploded ; the length of 
its path from the time it was seen until it exploded was at least 
107 miles ; duration of flight estimated at about 30 seconds, and 
its relative velocity three and a half miles a second; it exploded ; 
three heavy reports were heard; the meteorite disappeared at 
losion. 
As to the value of the data upon which its size was estimated, 
the same objection is urged as in the case of the Wilton meteor- 
ite; and it is hazarding nothing to state that the apparent size 
may have been due to an incandescent body a foot or two in di- 
ameter. Also, with reference to its disappearance, there is the 
same inexplicable mystery. It is supposed from its enormous 
size that but minute fragments of it fell; yet it disappeared at the 
time that this took place, which it is supposed occurred 19 miles 
above the earth, (an estimate doubtless too great when we consider 
the heavy reports), Accepting this elevation, what do we have? 
A body one mile and a half in diameter in a state of incandescence, 
passing in a curve almost parallel to the earth, and while in the 
very densest stratum of air that it reaches with a vigorous reaction 
between the atmosphere and its surface, and a dense body of air 
in front of ‘it, is totally eclipsed; while, if it had a direction only 
tangential to the earth, instead of nearly parallel, it would at the 
height of 19 miles have had upwards of 500 miles of air of vari- 
able density to traverse, which at the relative velocity of 3g 
miles a second (that must have been constantly diminishing by 
the resistance) would have taken abont 143 seconds. It seems 
_ Most probable that if this body was such an enormous one, that 
it shoul 
en seen for more than ten minutes after the ex- 
plosion, for the reasons above stated. The fact of its disappeat- 
ance at the time of the explosion, is strong proof that the mass 
itself was broken to fragments, and that these fragments fell to 
earth ;—assuring us that the meteorite was not the huge body 
esented, but simply one of those irregular stony fragments 
i 
. 
