A CATALOGUE OF OBSERVATIONS OF LUMINOUS METEORS. 141 



began to break at midnight ; and the sky was completelj^ clear at 0'' 15™ a.m. 

 on the 11th. Between the hours of 11" 55"" p.m. on the 10th, and l"* 5"" a.m. 

 on the 11th, Mr. J. Browning counted 26 meteors — six fii'st-class, leaving 

 trains (3 blue, 2 yeUow, 1 white). A third part of the sky was in view 

 throughout the time. 



At London, Mr, T. Crumplen reports meteors very scanty on the 9th. There 

 was a tluinderstorm on the 10th, with cloudy and unsettled weather until 

 ll*" P.M. The sky v\'as afterwards clear at intervals. Electrical-looking 

 clouds and distant lightning were conspicuous through the night as in pre- 

 vious years. A few meteors were observed radiating from B Camelopardi and 

 a Lyras. 



At Birmingham, Mr. W. H. Wood reports : — " The present return of the 

 August meteors has exceeded the ordinary scale of the phenomenon in point 

 of numbers, and exhibits a radical and probably a physical difference in the 

 nature of the substance composing the meteoric shower, as compared with that 

 of August 1864. In the latter, various tints of j-eUow and red were its cha- 

 racteristics, whilst the present shower is almost entirely composed of blue 

 meteors of the smaller class, the proportion of colours being as follows — 



Eed, Orange or yellow. Wliite. Blue. Total. 



5 11 12 42 70 meteors ; 



and the proportion of magnitudes being — 



= Jupiter. =Siriu8. = 1st mag. =2iiclmag. = Orel mag. 



1 9 14 22 34 



Total, 80 meteors. 



" One-foiu'th part of the meteors left phosphorescent trains. 



" The prolongation of the meteors' paths towards the points of origin, indi- 

 cated two areas of radiation whejice the entire shower emanated — one radiant 

 area about h Persei, and the other about D Camelopardi. 



" The rate of appearance recorded by an unassisted observer was as foUows : — 



and these numbers are probably less than half the real ratio." 



At Hawkhurst, on the nights of the 9th and 10th, the sky was remarkably 

 clear to unaided vision. Bright meteors were frequent, and a large fireball 

 biirst overhead on the morning of the 10th. The meteor itself was not seen ; 

 but a streak was left for 20 seconds, and the flash of light resembled that of 

 lightning ; no report was heard. The hourly number of meteors for an un- 

 assisted observer was about 15 per hour on the 9th, increasing to very nearly 

 30 per hour on the morning of the 11th. On the night of the 11th the sky 

 was overcast. 



Observations of August Meteors, 1866, with the Spectroscope. 



Mr. Browning having constructed three binocular spectroscopes for the 

 British Association, on a plan approved by the Committee, for examining the 

 spectra of meteors in the next I^ovembcr shower, the instruments were em- 

 ployed by Mr. Glaisher, Mr. Herschel, and Mr. Browning, to examine the 

 spectra of meteors on the 9th and 10th of August. Owing, however, to a 

 delay in the delivery of the instrument at Greenwich, observations of meteor- 

 spectra could not be commenced until the 10th. At the Royal Observatory, 

 Greenwich, and at Richmond on Thames (Mr. Browning's station), the sky 



