RamBaut—On the Great Meteor of February 8th, 1894. 261 
The time of flight has being variously estimated at from 1 to 5 
seconds. One observer states that it remained visible from 15 to 
17 seconds, but he is quite unsupported by others in giving it 
such a long life. Taking 3 seconds as a mean of the estimates— 
which will agree well with my recollection of the appearance— 
we find, since the length of the track was 57 miles, that the 
object was moving with a mean velocity of 19 miles per second, 
or very approximately that of the Earth in its orbit. 
We may say, therefore, that the object was first seen at a 
height of very nearly 60 miles, almost vertically over the estuary 
of the Ribble, at a point between Southport and Preston, and 
about one-quarter of the distance from the former town. That it 
travelled across Lancashire and part of Yorkshire at an average 
rate of 19 miles per second, and finally disappeared from view at 
a height of 14 miles, over a spot between Wakefield and Sheffield, 
at about three-fifths of the distance from the latter. 
It is usual in an inquiry of this sort to seek ‘the direction in 
space from which the meteor came—the radiant, as it is called— 
and this is obtained by producing backwards the track in which it 
was seen to move. In this case, however, such an investigation 
is out of the question, since there is evidence to show that the 
path was of a curvilinear form, while there are not sufficient 
observations available for determining the shape of the curve. 
In most cases the path of a meteor deviates but little from 
being a straight line, the velocity imparted to it by the Harth’s 
attraction being but small as compared with the velocity with 
which itis moving through space. In the case before us, however, 
since the portion of the Harth’s surface over which the meteor 
passed was moving towards the west with a velocity of nearly 19 
miles per second, or nearly the whole relative velocity observed, 
we see that this was probably a very slowly-moving body in 
space before it came under the influence of the Harth’s gravitation. 
Under these circumstances it is not to be wondered at that the 
path in which it moved was found to be considerably curved. 
Thus, Mr. John Pycock, of Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, describes 
it as “making a long curving sweep through the sky.” Mrs. 
A. W. Wills, Wilde Green, Birmingham, saw it “ descending 
rapidly in a curve, not vertically.” Miss Laura Wood, Berk- 
hampstead, says that it “fell in a graceful arch”; while Mr. 
