326 IShooting Stars of August, 1839. 



9h. to llh. P. M. The sky was cloudless, but somewhat hazy. 

 In two hours we saw 36 meteors as follows : — 



From 9h. to lOh. in s. 4, n. n. e. 9, =13 



" lOh. to llh. "s. s.E. 13, N. 10, =23-About 



three fourths of these might be traced back to the vicinity of Cas- 

 siopeia. 



The evening of the 5th was mostly clear. We made no con- 

 tinued observation ; but several shooting stars of unusual splendor 

 were accidentally seen. Two persons who were abroad about 1 

 A. M., of the 6th, were attracted by the frequency of meteors, and 

 counted them for about ten minutes, at the rate of one per min- 

 ute. The night of the 6th was overcast. The evening of the 

 7th was partly clear up to llh. 30m. Before 9h. several meteors 

 larger than Sirius were noticed by various persons. Mr. A. B. 

 Haile watched from 9h. 30m. to llh. 30m., and saw twenty-one. 

 The evening of the 8th was overcast. At 1 A. M. of the 9th, I 

 found it clear. From a window, I watched a small segment of 

 the heavens in the N. for ten minutes, and saw five meteors. The 

 sky then suddenly clouded and rain soon followed. The night 

 of the 9th was clear, and every way favorable. Messrs. F. Brad- 

 ley, C. P. Bush, A. B. Haile and myself, watched for five hours, 

 and observed in all six hundred and 7iinety-one different meteors 

 as follows : — 



691 



The meteors were increasing in frequency when we left the 

 field, and had we continued observation until 4 o'clock, we should 

 doubtless have seen in all more than a thousand. Several of the 

 meteors were as brilliant as Venus. About one third surpassed in 

 brightness stars of the first magnitude, and a larger portion than 

 this left luminous trains. We noticed nothing peculiar as to the 

 duration of their flights: few of them exceeded half a second. 

 About Ih. 50m. (A. M. 10th,) a fire ball, much superior in splen- 



