A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 97 



rials do in fact exist for preferring this alternative. In this case the period 

 from node to node is 354-621 days, with a probable error not exceeding 



16 minutes. The orbit is nearly circular, with a semi-major axis 0-9805, a 

 velocity of arrival iu the atmosphere (allowing for the attraction of the earth) 

 20-17 miles, and a velocity of passage through the atmosphere 38-7 miles, or 

 nearly forty miles per second. 



A maximum display on the morning of the 14th November, 1866, is 

 expected to be chiefly visible on the western Atlantic. 



Y. Meteoeites. 



(Proc. Vienna Acad. Sci. vols, xlviii. and xlix.)] 



(1.) 1863, August 11th, ll'' 30-" a.m. 



Near Shytal, Dacca, about 150 miles N.E. from Calcutta. A report like 



thunder was presently followed by the fall of a meteoric stone. The stone 



weighed 5 lbs., measuring 4 inches to 6 inches in different parts, and struck 



17 inches into the ground. It is entirely covered by a thin black crust, and 

 the interior substance resembles (by large patches) the meteorites of Weston — 

 by veins of darker colour the stones of Lixna and Macao, and those of 

 Parnallee by a general variegated appearance. It has been forwarded to the 

 British Museum through the Asiatic Society of Bengal. A section is destined 

 for the Museum of Vienna. The direction of the meteor was from E. to "W. 



(2.) 

 Dr. Haidinger, of Vienna, concludes a paper on the physical connexion of 

 meteorites with fireballs and shooting-stars by the following remarks (vol. xlix. 

 p. 16) : — " One of the conclusions which appear to be established by recent 

 observations is, that the three classes of meteorites, fireballs, and shooting- 

 stars are assemblages of fragments, finer or coarser. A study of the fused 

 surfaces of the meteorites of Stannern shows that these, at least occasionally, 

 enter the atmosphere in a crowd. Dr. Schmidt observed a similar structure, 

 by aid of the telescope, in the case of a detonating fireball, on the 19th October, 

 1863. Mr. Alexander Herschel also arrives at the same conclusion, on in- 

 dependent grounds, vpith respect to shooting-stars, and supposes them to 

 consist of dust, more or less arenaceous in its form." The fireball observed 

 by Dr. Schmidt, the Researches on Metoerites, and those on Shooting-stars, 

 referred to in this paragraph, are described in former papers of the Academy. 



(3.) 1863, December 7th, 11'^ a.m. 



Tourinnes la Grosse, Tirlemont, near "Waterloo in Flanders. A baU of 

 white-hot matter shot suddenly from S.E. to N.W. across the sky, which was 

 cloudy. Shortly afterwards a crash was heard, followed by a whistUng noise. 

 Two aerolites were precipitated, 14 lbs. and 15 lbs. in weight, and distant two 

 miles from one another, one of which broke the trunk of a fir-tree 12 inches 

 in circumference, and buried itself 6 inches in the earth. The second, falling 

 on a footway in the village of Tourinnes la Grosse, splintered a flagstone, and 

 broke into 25 or 30 fragments, severely burning the fingers of those who 

 attempted to collect them. A thii-d stone of 2| lbs. weight, which feU 

 ■without injury from branch to branch of a tree, is preserved in the Museum 

 of Natural History at Paris. Daubree and Haidinger conclude that meteorites 

 reach the earth -with a velocity less than that of a cannon-ball. The de- 

 tonations are a proof of the violence with which their planetary velocity is 

 destroyed by the resistance of the air. The Tourinnes stones are Ught grey, 

 and, from the presence of spherules, chondritic. Chladnite (nickeliferous 

 iron) and troilite (magnetic iron-pyrites) are disseminated through the stones 



1864. H 



