370 report — 1878. 



Neither alumina nor lime appears to be present in this meteorite, and 

 augitic and felspathic constituents are consequently absent. The oxygen 

 present in the two silicates amounts to — 



I. II. 



Silicic acid 17-19 30-22 



Iron protoxide 6-31 1 = 18 .g 3 f5-23j = U . 5Q 



Magnesia 12-21 J 19 H J 



Tbe soluble portion, therefore, is an olivine, having approximately the 

 composition represented by the formula 2(f MgO, ^FeO), Si0 2 ; and the 

 insoluble part a bronzite of the form (§MgO,^FeO), Si0 2 ; the ratio of 

 iron oxide to magnesia being the same in both silicates. 



1877, December 26tli, 8 a.m. — Between EiJhr and Ballendar, near 



Coblentz* 



A correspondent of the ' Coblenzer Zeitung,' dating from " Hohr, 

 27th December," writes that ou the preceding day two meteorites fell 

 near the road leading to the former frontier, in the direction of Bal- 

 lendar, and that the fall was attended by a very characteristic explo- 

 sion. The editor of the above journal has been unable to gather any 

 further particulars of the occurrence beyond the fact that the stones fell 

 in a wood, and could not be discovered. 



General Directions, and Instructions to Observers, for Recording Meteors 



and Aerolites. 



Much industrious labour and attention has of late years been bestowed 

 by experienced and eminent astronomers on collecting and discussing 

 meteor observations, and on deducing from them a great variety of very 

 important astronomical conclusions. Materials of constantly increasing 

 interest have in consequence accumulated somewhat rapidly in recent 

 years towards the extension and development of the astronomical theory 

 of these bodies, a clear and exact exposition of which, dealing only with 

 the most positively ascertained and clearly established features of their 

 history, would here be too wide and extensive a subject to be properly 

 discussed at length. The astronomical problem of their origin, which is 

 set before us by the appearances of meteors of the most dissimilar 

 descriptions, is naturally too extensive and too diversified a question to be 

 included in a single theory, or to admit of only a single explanation ; and 

 it is not at present so much to the causes and to the origin of their 

 occurrence that it is desired to direct particular attention, as to the best 

 means of observing and describing accurately the various notable appear- 

 ances which they present, and to the most convenient and effective 

 methods to be followed for preserving useful records of their ordinary 

 and extraordinary exhibitions. 



The phenomena of luminous meteors may be comprehended, in the 

 first instance, under the leading titles or descriptions of a few general and 

 appropriate designations (long since introduced, and still very con- 

 venient to rate and record them by distinctly, although not completely 

 and sufficiently), for the immediate practical purposes of their registra- 



* ' Coblenzer Zeitung,' December 29th, 1877. 



