A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEOES. 129 



me from here. I had a fine vieAv of it for about t^vo seconds as it skimmed 

 majestically across a bright blue portion of the sky, which was in other parts 

 covered by white clouds. I heard no sound, although I listened very atten- 

 tively for it ; but the wind was blowing through the trees, and so might have 

 drowned the sound to me. 



The brilliant orange-red with rose tint on the after part (h), and bright 

 white light at the forward end (a), gave it a most wonderfiil aspect when 

 surrounded by the blue sky. 



The drawing, although roughly made, is, I may say, generally faithful. 



The elevation was about 30° ; the inclination of the axis, about 5° ; the 

 length of the strikingly visible portion, about 1° 30' ; the white vapour veil, 

 perhaps 8° or 10° long, but, as it faded very gradually, one could not assign 

 an exact length to if. The red taU appeared to flame and flicker consider- 

 ably. 



If it had made its transit at night, it would have lit up the whole of 

 England ; but such a meteor seen in bright sunshine gives it a very special 

 character of interest. 



I am, &c., Jas. Nasmtth. 



Penshurst, June 22nd, 1866. 

 To A. 8. Herschel, Esq^. 



2. As seen at Brighton. (From Mr. Galton's MS.) 



"We saw T. point behind us; we turned, and saw a thing like a comet 

 passing through the air ; a bright ball of fire with a bright tail was what it 

 looked like. As it got near the cliif which lies to the east, it got smaller and 

 then vanished into space. Some people heard it go off like a gun when it 

 disappeared. T. says it was much larger at first ; it went fast and straight 

 across between us and the town. 



"A meteor passed over Brighton at 10|- a.m. on June 20th; it came from 

 N.W. and travelled rapidly, and disappeared S.S.E. The policeman on Kemp 

 Town slopes described it as shaped like a ginger-beer bottle ; one half of the 

 bottle was a strong blood-red light, the other half of the body was like a thin 

 white vapour, and the extremity of the object was a thin white cloud like a 

 comet's tail, but not luminous. So transparent was this tail, the blue sky 

 could be traced through it. The meteer burst, or rather deployed (spread 

 itself) and wholly disappeared ; no sparlcs, no sound. 



" The coastguard on drill at Signal Station, near Brighton, saw the meteor. 

 The body of it appeared liJfe a bottle, half of it a very remarkable deep-red 

 fire ; the rest of the body and a tail, a long train of very thin white vapour. 

 When it broke or spread and disappeared, the body, as the sailors call it, as- 

 sumed a sort of grey hue, which they think was the blue sky seen through 

 the thin white vapour. There was total absence of aU noise or sparks ; at the 

 moment when immediately over their heads, the " body " (the light part of it) 

 seemed to " quiver," but there was no pause in its course. The " quiver " 

 was, only, if possible, less than an instant." 



3. As seen at Ticehurst (near Hurstgreen, Sussex). 



Eespected and dear Sir, — A meteor of rather remarkable character, I 

 should think, was seen by my schoolboys to pass this morning at lO*" 4-5" 

 A.sr. through a clear opening of the clouds, appearing in E. by N. at an alti- 

 tude of 15°, and disappearing in S.E. at an altitude of 5°. All agree that it 

 appeared half as large as the moon and of a bright yellow colour, very much 



18G6. K 



