A CATALOGUE OP OBSERVATIONS OP LUMINOT?S METEORS. 31 



the west, remained visible for an hour, and taking an easterly course gradually 

 disappeared. The appendages appeared to shine from the reflected light of 

 the main bodies, which it was painful to look at for any length of time. The 

 moon had risen half an hour before, and there was scarcely any wind (350 

 miles south-east of Adalia). 



Accounts from Erzeroum, in Asia Minor, describe a sudden fall of the 

 thermometer on June 21st (three days after), which usually ranges in summer 

 between 20° and 22° Reaumur, to 5°, and a further fall of two more degrees 

 during a heavy snow-storm which lasted three days, after which the thermo- 

 meter suddenly rose to 21°. The greatest consternation prevailed among 

 the inhabitants, who thought the wqrld was coming to an end. 



At Malta the heat was excessively oppressive, the thermometer ranging 

 from 87° indoors in shade to 140° exposed to the hot air. At St. Antonio, 

 the coolest spot in the island, the governor was compelled to rig up Indian 

 punkahs and order an extra supply of ice*. 



No. 3. — The following additional notice of the meteor of July 16th has 

 recently appeared in the 'London Review' of August 10th, 1861, written 

 by Mr. Alexander S. Herschel : — 



" Excellent observations at Tunbridge Wells, and at Darlington, in York- 

 shire, afford the following conclusions upon the orbit of the first meteor of 

 Tuesday evening, the 16th of July. If this were not an electrical phe- 

 nomenon of extraordinary magnificence, it came from space as a body of one- 

 third of a mile in diameter, drawn towards our sun from some initial path, 

 in which it must have had a native velocity of at least twenty-three miles a 

 second (exceeding by four miles that of our earth in her orbit). The meteor 

 first became visible 320 miles above Namur (in the south of Flanders), and in- 

 clined downwards at 20° to about 100 miles above the North Sea, 250 miles 

 due east of Perth, where it suddenly disappeared, soon after separating into 

 two parts. The whole course of 500 miles was performed in 10 to 12 seconds 

 of time ; and if we neglect the action of the earth, which can only deflect a 

 satellite 3° in a minute, the path was from over the head of Sagittarius, and 

 presents a direct hyperbolic orbit of eccentricity of 1*1 1°, and obliquity 45°, 

 leading from the descending node (where it encountered the earth) to an 

 apse at 156° in advance along its course, and within 16,000,000 miles of the 

 sun." 



Note. — The time of this meteor is not given by Mr. Herschel in this 

 notice, but he speaks of it as the first meteor seen that evening ; it is very 

 possible that this was the one seen also at Greenwich, the Isle of Wight, and 

 Kensington, about 11 p.m., though it does not appear to be quite clear. It 

 may be observed that large meteors seem to have been not unfrequently 

 observed about the 17th of July. An observed altitude of 320 miles for a 

 meteor is most unusual. Though it is true, as observed by Mr. Herschel, and 

 proved by elaborate calculations by Walker (see ' American Philosophical 

 Transactions' for 1841), that the influence of the earth's attraction is very 

 inconsiderable on passing meteors, yet in calculations on the real orbits of 

 meteors, taken generally from observations founded on positions more or less 

 within the limits of the atmosphere, it must not be forgotten that the elasti- 

 city of the atmosphere itself must have a tendency to make the meteor 

 deviate more or less from its true path, materially qualifying the elements of 

 its ellipticity, and rendering somewhat uncertain whether it is hyperbolic 

 or not. 



* Sir W. S. Han-is considers it probable this was an electrical phenomenon. 



