156 -REPORT—1858, a 
Extract of a letter to the Editor of the Times, Dec. 4, 1858. 
“... Last night (Nov. 30), at 15 minutes to 9, it being very dark and raining 
heavily, I was ascending one of the steep hills in this neighbourhood, when 
suddenly I was surrounded by a bright and powerful light which passed me 
a little quicker than the ordinary pace of man’s walking, leaving it dark as 
before. This day I have been informed that the light was seen by the sailors 
in the harbour, coming in from the sea and passing up the valley like a low 
cloud....—JABEz Brown.” 
Boscastle, Dec. 1. 
No. 3. Oxford, Sept. 13. 
At 6} p.m. a luminous ball was seen in the region of the sky to the east of 
the moon, and higher than that luminary at the time. It appeared much 
larger and brighter than any star of the first magnitude. It carried with it 
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a train or tail like the tail of the comet now visible, and of about the same 
length. First was seen the ball,—then the tail appeared, in a nearly horizontal 
line, then ball and tail disappeared. It seemed as though it came out, ran 
along the sky for a short space, and then entered the sky again——From a 
Lady in a letter to Professor Phillips. 
No. 4.—The following account of a meteor was communicated by Prof. 
Stevelly to the British Association, Section A, at the Meeting (1858). 
“On Wednesday evening, the 7th of October, 1840, as a number of us 
were returning from a Lecture on Storms, delivered by Mr. Espy in the rooms 
of the Natural History and Philosophical Society of Belfast, as we were 
passing along the east side of College Square, a beautiful meteor appeared 
for a few seconds, almost due south of us, but a little to the west, and so 
bright that you could distinetly read by its light. It was then within about 
20 minutes to 10 o’clock; the moon was shining, though at the moment ob- 
scured by a cloud; and afterwards, when I found that others had seen the 
same meteor at a distance, we estimated, as accurately as we could, the alti- 
tude at which it had been seen, and found it at about 30°. On the night of 
Friday, the 9th, or two days after, I travelled to Dundalk by the Dublin mail 
coach, and the guard, Joseph Hill, asked me, had I seen the very brilliant 
flash of light on Wednesday evening, at about a quarter to ten o'clock. I 
told him I had, and inquired from him the particulars of where and how he 
-saw it. He informed me of the place, which was about 54 miles out of 
Dublin, where the road was very straight, and tending to the north. He had 
seen it, as he explained, almost overhead, but somewhat to his right hand, 
and it was so bright for some seconds that the entire place around was lighted — 
up so that a person could distinctly read by it. It had, therefore, been ver- 
tically over a place about 75 Irish miles from Belfast, and from these data it 
